True Meaning of Strength
by LynMcCallum
Summary: Okay, the full summary's inside since it's a little long. It's sort of based on Vampire Academy but sort of not so you'll have to read to find out why ; Rated T for language and all since I just love to have my characters use colourful language XD
1. Prologue

**_Okay, so this story doesn't relate to the normal Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead at all! It hasn't got Rose Hathaway or any of the other characters. What it does have is the school and the whole vampire system. I don't own Vampire Academy or the idea of Moroi, Dhampire and Strigoi but I do own the characters but I don't own many of the names... You'll understand when you read it XD Hope you like it!_**

**_Full Summary:  
___****Girl runs away from school at the age of 10 and doesn't get found again until she's 16. People will find that she's changed a lot in the last six years and now the guardians are going to have to decide whether forcing her into the school was a good idea or not... Especially since they have a system where Moroi are allowed to take combat classes alongside the dhampire trainees and there is no rule saying a dhampire can't kick a Moroi's ass during class and this girl is definitely willing to bend that rule as much as she can.**

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Prologue

The blood spluttered over her face as she knelt beside her lifeless father with his head resting on her lap. Her tiny fearful eyes stared upwards. Her mother's face was contorted with pain as the Strigoi drank from her neck greedily. Blood gushed from the wound where the monster had plunged his hand through her stomach holding her in place.

"Run little sky. Run," her mother choked out with her last ounce of strength before her loving eyes turned blank. Her five ft six frame sagged in the Strigoi's hold and with a malignant laugh; he wrenched his arm out pulling guts along with the movement. Amelie's body fell without the support keeping her upright. Kalani's eyes followed as her mother's body crumbled to land over her father's body.

She stared with wide blue and green eyes up at the monster with a bloodstained mouth. A mouth stained with her mother and father's blood. The Strigoi reached out with a sly smile and the small girl cringed away shaking her head. He lost his patience and instead lashed out with his arm smacking her across the snow covered ground. She skidded and rolled as her mind cast itself back to the many lessons she'd obtained over the years from both her parents and the academy.

Something solid and sharp slashed her arm and she let out a whimper of pain. Looking down, she saw blood beginning to drip onto the snow, but she also saw the gleaming silver stake. Several things happened at once. A band of guardians finally reached them rushing through from the forest. The Strigoi was in mid leap lunging for her neck. A column of earth shot up through the thick layer of snow spearing him through the thigh. As he fell, she gathered all the power she could muster and lunged forward with the stake aiming towards his undead heart.

Disbelief shone in his eyes as the silver struck its target and he crumbled. Trembling, Kalani stumbled to her parents. When she finally reached them she collapsed to her knees and wept as she clung to their corpses. She wept for all she was worth and when she thought she had no tears left, still she cried.

Guardians swarmed around the area checking for lurking Strigoi waiting to catch their unaware. Guardian Joseph Maxwell removed his coat and wrapped it around the shaking child. She looked up with guarded. Her hold tightened on her parents as she glared at the guardian. "You're safe now Kalani. You're safe." Joe hushed smoothing hair from the ten year-olds' face. "Easy now Kalani, let them go so we can pick them up."

"They're gone aren't they?" Kalani asked with a choked voice.

"I'm sorry Kalani."

The sky rumbled above them as rain began to fall merging with the sleet. Feeling numb, Kalani allowed Joe to lift her up into his arms and blackness consumed her as voices began barking orders.

Throughout the entire funeral, the only thought that occupied Kalani's mind was her escape plan. For the past week, she'd received more attention than she would ever want. People swamped her with sympathy, some with genuine emotion, others were faked. She already had her bag ready with her mother's silver stake inside several items of clothing and some money she managed to find.

The funeral was held at dawn, her parents' favourite time of the day. The sun was still up but not to the extent that would tire the Moroi. She could still imagine going on the daily walks with her parents at dawn when others were only starting to get up for the night. After the burial of her parents, there was a service held in the chapel for those who wanted to send silent prayers to the deceased. It was during that time that Kalani stole away. she slipped through the crowds, as invisible as ever, sprinted to where she hid the sports bag before rushing to the hidden weak spot she'd found two days ago. The weakened part of the ward was what gave her the idea to escape.

She didn't want a life where the people around her died one by one in this endless war. She didn't want anymore misery. She knew that she had to get out. "Hey, you're that Ivashkov's daughter," a voice called from above her. Her head snapped up to the trees and she saw a red messy haired boy wearing a black suit lounging on a thick branch. He jumped down when he saw her and stepped towards her. She watched him warily for a moment before spinning on her heel. Kalani got one leg through when he suddenly grabbed her arm wrenching her back. "What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

"Let go of me Ozera," she spoke through gritted teeth.

"I can't let you do that. You won't last a day out there."

"Watch me."

"No."

"Let me go," she almost pleaded. The grief and anguish in her eyes stunned him and his grip unconsciously slipped. A grim but grateful smile adorned her round face before she turned around and jumped through the gap. "Oh and Ozera, you might want to tell the teachers that there's a fault here. We wouldn't want to have a repeat of what happened last week." With that said, she left and Andrew-Blake Ozera stared after her retreating figure, disappearing into the darkness of the woods. In the last six years that he'd seen the small girl, he'd never seen so much emotion on her face. She'd always been so quiet and blended with the darkness avoiding social gatherings as much as possible. Silently he hoped for her safety in the outside world.

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_**So what'd you all think? You know that there's a totally attractive button down here some where which is green and you know you wanna press it ;)**_


	2. Chapter 1

**_Okay so this chapter is... longer to say the least compared to the Prologue. Enjoy the story XD_**

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Chapter 1

Music blared through the speakers of my convertible and the wind swept my hair behind me. Checking both sides of the road, I made sure no speeding cars were near by before spinning my wheel for a U-turn and parking almost perfectly alongside the curb. I readjusted the spacing before clicking the button for the roof to come back up. I loved my daily drives along the coast from school to work. It set me in the mood.

I headed around the back to where the back door to the bar was. Using the key from the chain I unlocked the door and stepped in making sure I locked it behind me. "Hey Kai!" Ana greeted when she saw me.

"Yo, what's the situation out there?" I gestured at the bar.

"When I pocked my head out there five minutes ago, it was jammed." Ana grinned.

"Really?" I beamed. "Well then hopefully there'll be tonnes of tips tonight!" I cheered.

"Totally have to agree with that! So I take it you just came from sports practice?"

"Yeah, we have a football tournament coming up." I nodded.

"Awesome, when?"

"Next Saturday."

"I'll definitely come watch."

"Are you going to watch the game to support me or to check out Justin?" I teased casually draping an arm around her shoulders.

"You of course," she replied with a laugh. "And to check out the guys too. Seriously, I love you for being in the guy's team, some of them playing out on the pitch. Phew!"

"You are unbelievable."

"No, you are! I swear, you're on the team, it's obvious the guys want you and yet all you do is pay attention to the sport!"

"I do pay attention to the guys."

"Of course, you always reject them." Ana scoffed.

"That's because all they want is sex and I'm not ready for that." I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, can you help me out with my hair. I want to get as many tips as I possibly can tonight."

I nodded and walked over to the mirror. I grabbed the brush and pulled the top half of her hair into a wild bun with strands falling all over the place. Then I separated her blonde curls so that they framed her heart shaped face. Just for fun I grabbed a few strands of hair and plated that. "That hair style with smoky eyes, gorgeous cherry lips and guys will be tripping over themselves for you." I winked leaning down to rest my head beside hers on her shoulder.

"Thanks Kai!" Ana beamed.

Hurriedly I changed into a black denim skirt with fish net tights, knee high two inch block heeled boots and a corset styled top ending mid stomach showing a strip of tanned skin. I tugged the hair band off teasing my hair out of the bun and red tresses tumbled down my back in waves. I shook my head a few times to loosen my hair before grinning at Ana. "I'm done."

"No you're not. Not without this you're not." Ana glared holding up her make-up bag.

"Aw come on Ana; just give me a break for once."

"Nope," she smirked, her lips popped on the 'p'. "Now sit."

With a sigh, I sat patiently while Ana highlighted my hazel eyes with smoky eye shadow and mascara emphasising my long lashes. She rubbed a speck of mud off my cheeks and applied lip gloss. "Okay, now you're done," she smiled.

"Let's go, I want to nab a free drink off someone." I urged pushing her out of the changing rooms with me. I could hear the music and chatter from the corridor as I headed towards the bar. For the next hour I swapped between dashing around serving customers their drinks and snacks and dancing on the dance floor. The bar was huge with two levels, the top for mainly eating and drinking with the bar on the side, the bottom with a bar and a large dance floor.

"Hey, since it's a Saturday night, you know our tradition!" the manager called through the microphone. The lights dimmed on the bar and lit up again to show three girls standing on the counter. I was one of them. As the music began, so did our dance routine. We span, twirled, stomped, jumped and sang. When that was over, it was my turn to serve behind the counter. I'd been working in this bar for nearly two years, first it was mainly part time before the manager bent the rules slightly and hired me, Ana and Louise for real. Learning the tricks with swirling bottles and serving drinks was easy and reminded me a little of the cheerleading routines I saw at school.

"Girls, a bunch of hot guys are requesting for you!" Manager Juan smirked as he stepped over to the bar. "Well done with the entertainment as always, chicas."

"Gracias," we chimed giving him our signature smile causing him to laugh. I hoped over the counter while the other two stepped around it.

"What table?" Louise asked.

"Five."

The three of us bickered and chatted as we walked over and what I saw made my heart stop for a moment. I should be used to this by now. After all, it wasn't that unusual for Moroi to show up in this bar considering its popularity. Although I had to admit, I'd never encountered Moroi around our age in this bar.

In this world, there were three kinds that belonged to the supernatural worlds. Things that only existed in fantasy and nightmares. Three kinds of vampires. There was the almost hopeless kind, the Moroi. They were one of the two blood drinking types and they were the ones treated like royalty. It was the Moroi that ruled the vampire community and they were the only ones that possessed magic. Well, there was one exception but I'll go into that later. There were five elements a Moroi could specialise in, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Spirit. The last one was an odd one, only rediscovered a century ago. Spirit had different uses depending on the type, but there was one specialty. They could all raise the dead. They could heal a person back to life and that person would become Shadow Kissed and they would share a bond. On the whole, the Moroi were kind of pathetic, only capable of charming people. Another talent they possessed was compulsion, and spirit users specialised in that. Only a few Moroi learned to fight alongside their protectors, the guardians: the dhampirs.

Dhampirs were born and bred to protect the Moroi. They were the fighters with strength above a human's. There were schools across the world created to teach Moroi and dhampirs. Dhampirs sometimes had another function and that was to be a blood whore. They were those who became addicted to the bite of a vampire. The dhampirs had two respected roles. Role number one: keep the dhampir population going. For some bizarre reason, dhampirs couldn't reproduce with other dhapirs; they could only reproduce with a Moroi. Role number two: protect the Moroi from Strigoi.

Strigoi was the third type of vampire. They were monsters that craved the blood of a Moroi and they had the most physical strength out of the three types. There were two ways to be turned. One: a Moroi could be turned if they drained someone. Two: a Strigoi drank from you to the point of death then forced you to drink its blood. Strigoi were cold heartless monsters and it was the job of the dhampirs to kill them. You could either kill a Strigoi by stabbing it through the heart with a silver stake, which burns both Moroi and Strigoi; or you could severe it's head as well as staking it if you didn't have a silver stake; or you could burn it to smithereens.

From personal experience, I'd found that burning it was difficult unless you were a Moroi or myself. See, I was an oddball in both the human community and the vampire community. I was an oddball in the human community because I wasn't fully human. I was an oddball in the vampire community because I was a dhampir with the four elemental abilities: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. I had no idea how that happened and neither had my deceased parents but I wasn't going to complain since it made my job of killing Strigoi that much easier since I had the advantage of being a dhampir that could wield fire.

There was a horrid side effect to it though, there was a limit to using the elements and if I exceeded the limit, I would pass out afterwards. Therefore, I preferred the traditional method, stake then burn with a match or lighter. To top everything off, I could also move things without touching them which I found the most bizarre. After some research, I discovered that the ability was called telekinesis.

I stared at the group of Moroi there and internally frowned when I couldn't spot any guardians to protect them. I would have to guess that they were stationed outside of the bar. There were six of them, four boys and two girls. They all looked like undergraduates to me which made me put my guard up even more. Moroi were known to be snobby and arrogant. They often misused their compulsion to get what they wanted from humans and dhampirs which meant if I wasn't careful, they could charm me and my friends.

All six of them looked like models just stepped off a runway. The boys wore casual jeans and unbuttoned shirts while the girls wore slightly low cut dresses that clung to their thin slender figure. I felt my lips twitch in pride when I noticed the Moroi girls' chests were rather flat. That was one thing that Moroi females didn't have in their ethereal beauty and that was a curved figure. I wasn't sure why but it was impossible without surgery.

I could see the two girls eyeing some teenagers on the dance floor with approval. Gracefully they slipped from the booth and glided over to them. The four boys on the other hand practically had their eyes glued to us. Who could blame them? The three of us had curvy figure and Louise and Ana definitely wore clothes that emphasised all their feminine curves.

"Apparently you called?" Louise flirted settling her eyes on a brown haired Moroi.

"We wanted to compliment your performance just now. That was amazing," he grinned. "I'm Dan."

"Louise."

"Would you like to dance?"

"You have no idea what you've just got yourself into dude." I laughed as Louise led him onto the dance floor. "So we know one of you, what about you three?"

"Jackson."

"Quinn."

I could see out of the corner of my eye Ana ogling the two blonde boys. They looked like twins with their identical grins.

"Go on Ana, Juan's giving us a break." I nudged her with a wink.

"Well then hope you don't mind but I shot gun these two," she grinned gesturing for the pair to follow her. Each of us three had a talent with dancing; Louise was the most sensual with a single partner always knowing when to dip and where to rub. Ana was the triplet type; she preferred having two partners for a dance. Me? Well although I was a contemporary dancer, I wasn't into sensual dancing much. I liked dancing for dancing rather than trying to prove something.

I leaned against the table crossing my legs and arms and tilted my head back to get a better look at the last one. He had messy unruly red hair that spiked in random directions, deep soulful sapphire eyes that gleamed in the dim light, a firm face and full lips that were curved in a sardonic smile. I was somewhat surprised to see firm muscular shoulder hinted by his shirt. That meant that he worked out in the gym regularly which was odd for a Moroi. This could get interesting.

"And you?" I asked arching my brows at him while I kept an eye on the dancing girls. Luckily they kept near each other so that if things got nasty, I could step in easily.

"What about me?"

"Your name maybe?" I laughed.

"Drew."

"Well you're rather reserved ain't ya?"

"This coming from a stranger?"

Wow this guy had fight. "Do you like avoiding conversations?"

"Not usually. I'm not particularly avoiding anything, I'm just preoccupied at the moment," he smirked and I could see his eyes assessing me.

"Like what you see?" I teased.

"Depends what you can do with that body of yours."

"Dude, you don't want to know the answer to that."

"Let's test that out shall we?" he suggested standing up. He was at least a head and a half taller than me and he held his hand out. I smirked and took his hand. Well, it would be interesting to see what this guy could do. The crowd had cleared slightly, most people heading to the bar for a drink or taking a rest. There were only a few couples dancing now and Louise and Ana sent me a wink when I passed them.

Without warning, he tugged my arm pressing my body against his firm muscular one. A song that I recognised flittered through the speakers and I beamed at the DJ. I let the music roll through my body and Drew led me through a salsa during the intro before twirling me out so that we danced separately for a while. Throughout the entire dance my body heated up as I let my body loose without a thought in my mind. All I could think of was the music and the way his body felt against mine every time we pulled back together for a few pair work before stepping out again. For the last note, he pulled my hands to give me an extra boost and I had to jump a little to twine my arms around his neck. He practically lifted me off the floor as one of my legs hooked around his hip and his arms supported my waist.

"You ain't that bad." I grinned as I eased my leg down and released his neck.

"Neither are you."

I cast my eyes around and frowned when I couldn't see either of my friends. Panic rolled through me when I saw Ana sandwiched between the two Moroi boys in one of the shadowed booths. Her face was flushed and from where I was I could tell she was trembling slightly from the pleasure. Anger replaced my fear and I stormed across the dance floor. I grabbed Ana's arm gently but firmly and pulled her from the pair's embrace.

"Aw, did Drew not give you a good time? Last I saw you were having fun. Or do you want to join in?" Jackson smirked.

"Sorry but Ana needs to take a call." I said coolly and whisked her away without another word. She wasn't even resisting me; she merely had a dazed expression. Damn it they were using more compulsion than I'd first thought. I scanned the crowd trying to find Louise but she was nowhere to be found. "Damn it. Ana do you know where Louise went?"

"Round back…" she murmured.

I swore and ran taking Ana with me. I didn't trust the boys to leave her alone. I left her standing on the side when I saw the scene in front of me. Dan was about to bite her, his fangs were extended and Louise was eagerly exposing her neck for him. Since he'd held her at a distance to give him better access, I slipped into the gap easily.

"What the -? Oh it's you. You're her friend right?" he asked with a sly smile. I could feel the power behind his words and smiled mockingly.

"Sorry but neither of us are available." I said before grabbing Louise, walked to Ana and took them both back to the changing rooms making sure to lock it behind me. I swore again when I noticed the both of them still looking dazed. I walked over to the sink and got two small shots of water. Then calmly I walked back then threw both shots of water at their faces. They gave a surprised shout and spluttered a little before shooting me a glare.

"What the hell was that for?" they demanded before their looked around.

"When did we get into the changing rooms?" Louise asked worriedly. "I swear I was just making out with that guy…" she trailed off before both of them gave horrified gasps.

"We haven't -"

"Don't worry, it didn't get that far." I shook my head and they both sagged in relief.

"Oh god…"

"Why don't you two get home first, make sure you actually home and please don't let anyone in."

"My parents are home tonight." Ana smiled reassuringly.

"So are mine."

"Good."

"But what about you? Why don't you crash at mine tonight?" Ana offered worriedly.

"Don't worry; I let mine know that I was unavailable." I grinned.

"The usual way?" Louise laughed.

"Nope, I just left him when I realised you two were gone."

"Thanks for tonight Kai. I don't even want to think about what would've happened." Louise shuddered.

"No, I don't think you do." I smiled grimly. They certainly wouldn't want to know that they got bitten by a vampire. But then again, neither of them would be able to remember. "Just go, I'll let Juan know. You two have work tomorrow right?"

"Thank you Kai." They hugged me before getting changed and leaving. I walked them to their cars and made sure no one was following them. Surprisingly enough, none of the Moroi had left the bar yet. I headed back in and continued until closing time. I was halfway through getting changed when I realised I wasn't alone. I span around and at the same moment one of the boys was pressing me against the lockers. "Fuck off asshole. I've already told you, I ain't available." I spat.

"Aw come on, you'll like it I reassure you."

"Piss off Dan." I hissed and shoved him hard in the chest throwing him across the room. At the same time, Jackson sailed into the room through the back door and adrenaline pumped through my veins when I saw the scene outside past the splintered door. Jackson was lying unconscious, one of the girls from earlier was being held down by a red eyed vampire. Three Strigoi were outside. I hadn't fought one for a month and I really needed to let off some steam tonight. I reached into my bag for one of my silver stakes. I had them made three years ago after my first encounter with a Strigoi and I'd been using them ever since. I rarely hunted for them, but in San Francisco, they weren't that uncommon somehow.

I threw the one I held piercing the Strigoi holding down the Moroi girl. He let out a strangled scream before going limp. One down two to go. They saw me and charged into the room. I grabbed the other stake in my bag and eyed each one as they circled me. I crouched slightly mimicking their movements and watched them warily. Suddenly they pounced together but I was ready for them. I dropped, rolled to my left and sent the stake sailing into another undead heart.

The last one smashed into me throwing us to the ground and I lifted my arm to defend my neck just as his head came down. Teeth bit into flesh and I bit back the scream of pain. Gathering my power and using my legs, I kicked wrenching him away from me. He went flying across the room and I jumped up ignoring the pain in my arm. I snatched the stake, crashed into the Strigoi and we rolled around in a tumbling mess. Eventually, after some difficulty I managed to get the stake between us and stabbed it through his chest.

With disgust I pushed the limp body away and rolled sideways to get up. I observed the mess in the room with a grimace. There was a small pool of blood surrounding the Strigoi and one unconscious Moroi was lying on the ground while Jackson was staring in shock at me.

"Oi are you alright?" I asked snapping him out of his shock. He stared at me for a moment longer before his widened.

"Watch out!" he shouted. Spinning around I collided with another Strigoi and grunted at the impact.

"You're that little devil aren't you?" the Strigoi asked with a sneer. "You're smaller than I thought."

"They always say that just before I kill them." I smirked as I plunged the stake through him. At the same time he was wrenched off but luckily I was faster and managed to get the stake through. "Dude do you know how risky that was? If you'd pulled him off a second earlier, I wouldn't have gotten the stake through in time." I criticised the guardian who had their back turned from me.

He dropped the body and turned around to face me with a stern look. I felt my body freeze in shock. I knew him. I knew this guardian almost since I was born. His black hair was pulled into a pony tail as always and his steely dark gaze pinned me. My breath caught as I stared at him. I stared at him and the only thought that ran through my mind was I had to get out. I had to run, if I didn't get out now I would be stuck.

I turned forgetting about my stuff and dashed for the door. I fumbled for the door handle and when I finally managed to get it open I smashed straight into a stiff body. I stumbled backwards into a gentle but firm grip. I tilted my head backwards to stare up at the guardian that I recognised as Joseph Maxwell. I gulped and stared innocently at him.

"Could you please let me go?" I asked sweetly.

"You're going to have to come with us."

"Why?"

"You just killed."

"If you guys are police officers, could you show me your badges before you arrest me." I said cheekily.

"You just killed vampires."

"Really? I hadn't noticed. I thought I just killed two dolphins." I rolled my eyes.

"Where did you get those stakes from?"

"Look, it's obvious that you guys aren't officers so I'm sorry for doing this." I grinned sweetly before lashing out with a leg knocking the guardian I didn't recognise unconscious and slammed my elbow into Joe's stomach. His grip loosened enough for me to slip through and I was just about to run out again when he grabbed my arm and pinned me to the floor. I heaved upwards throwing him off. I managed to get two steps when his body slammed into mine. We tumbled to the ground and I punched his face with everything I had. He dodged at the last moment and he slammed me to the ground again forcing the air from my lungs. For a moment I saw stars and the next moment my hands were being restricted behind me back. Then next thing I knew, I felt a sharp pain on my neck and darkness swamped me.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The first thing that I noticed was the rumbling noise in the background that reminded me of a plane. The second was the hushed whispers around me. The third was the really uncomfortable restraints around my wrists. I searched my mind for what had happened and everything came rushing back. The Moroi at the club, the fight in the changing rooms and someone hitting the back of my neck. Dread filled me as I realised, I _was_ on a plane and I was being escorted back to the Academy that I'd left all those years ago.

Slowly I peeled my eyes open and readjusted to the light. Looking up I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks. I was staring right at Joe. Somehow I was lying on his lap and I immediate sat up back into my own seat. I found the way that he stared at me unnerving, it was like he wanted to say something but thought better of it. "You're awake," he said unnecessarily at last.

"Yeah…" I trailed off. "You play dirty, you knocked me out."

"It's not called playing dirty. It's was a necessity considering how much you were fighting back."

"I don't know who any of you are. If I had a phone I'd be calling for the police."

"Why?"

"It's a kidnapping!"

"It is not a kidnapping. It's a recruitment."

"Of what?"

"I'll explain that later. Firstly, how did you manage to fight so well against those vampires? You took down three."

"I staked them." I stated simply.

"Someone must've taught you?"

"Nope. To be honest, it's not that hard if you think about it. I mean, once you see a vampire you know it's real. I've been learning how to fight since I was a kid and I did some research after the first sighting. The next time I got attacked, I was ready." I shrugged.

"You took down three vampires and you've never been trained."

"I've just told you, I've been fighting since a young child."

"Vampires are different."

"Not really, sure they're faster and stronger but they know pretty much the same stuff. All I had to do was develop faster reactions."

"How many have you fought?"

I thought back for a moment before shrugging. I'd lost count after the tenth. "Can you get these off now? Since I'm already on the plane, there's no way I can fight back for now."

"For now?" he asked, his lips curling in amusement.

"Well when we land I might think about rebelling again." I shrugged. "Come on. No matter what you say, this is a kidnapping so it's only natural for me to fight back."

"Alright but only for now," he finally agreed.

When he removed the restraints, I stepped over his legs, stomped over to Jackson, Quinn and Dan and punched all three of them. Joe was out of his chair in a second and he was glaring at me. "Have you got no self control?" he demanded as he held me back.

"Don't worry; I was only going to hit them once." I scoffed.

"There'll be no more hitting them when you get to the Academy."

"Academy?" I asked faking confusion.

"Yeah, that's where you'll be staying."

"I will not!"

"You will."

"Says who?"

"Says the vampire law and as a dhampir, you have to obey. Don't even try to deny it, we know you're a dhampir. You have to be considering how well you fought. So humour me, why did you hit them?"

"They nearly raped my friends."

"It was not rape!" the trio defended.

"They never gave consent!"

"We weren't going to rape them."

"Fine, drink their blood without consent, either way I wasn't going to allow you to do that to them!" I snarled. "You used compulsion to get what you wanted. If you wanted blood, you should've gone to a whore house!"

Their faces contorted in disgust at the thought. "You're no better than those Moroi who simply take and leave." I glared.

"That's enough." Joe hushed.

I took deep breaths and tore out of his grip to sit back down in my chair. There was no turning back now; I had to go back since there was no way I'd be able to escape again. At least this time it should be different. No one would recognise me and I was no longer the shy girl who couldn't stand up for herself. These guys had no idea what they were getting themselves into by forcing me back to that school.

I didn't talk for the rest of the journey and the drive to the academy in the van was long and tedious. I couldn't help but stare in awe as we approached the academy though. It was absolutely huge after all and nothing could ever compare to that, except for a palace or something. Joe stood nearby at all times as the three guardians escorted us through the hall to the Headmaster's office. The Moroi punks left as soon as they got through the gates but they all stared at me curiously as they walked back towards the Moroi dorms.

Same as ten years ago, the Headmaster was a dhampir called Martin Hunt. He was one of the sweetest guys on the planet but also one of the strictest. I wasn't surprised to see that he almost looked the same as he did six years ago. I felt my breath catch as those dark eyes of his stared at me intently.

"You can all go except for the young lady and Guardian Maxwell." Martin commanded. The other two guardians bowed before leaving and closing the door behind them.

"You know, if all vampires are like those punks, you guys won't have a very good reputation." I scoffed. All of a sudden, Joe wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace and he nuzzled my hair.

"Stop pretending little sky," he whispered and I froze in his arms. I shoved him away spinning to face him at the same time and stared at him with stunned eyes. He held up my bag which also had my mother's stake in it. "Come here little Kai."

I stood rooted to the spot for a moment longer before emotion took over and I launched myself into his arms. I clung to him taking in his scent. It was so familiar to me, I felt so safe in those arms. His hand stroked my hair and he drew soothing circles on my back. I leaned into his touch remembering all the times these arms have comforted me. Eventually we broke apart and I grinned up at him.

"I see you couldn't quite get rid of the hair colour." Joe teased.

"How could I? Red's my favourite colour after all." I smiled. "I have a request to make Guardian Hunt."

"You know you can call me Martin so long as it's not in public little sky," he scolded and a moment later his arms wrapped around me lifting me up. He swung me around once before letting me go.

"You two are going to have to stop calling me that." I told them.

"What?"

"Calling me 'little sky'. I don't want anyone knowing who I really am."

"So you want to keep your name as 'Kylie Valentine'?"

"You went through my stuff didn't you?" I glared at Joe.

"Well I had to find out who you were and check to see if you decided to hide any more stakes." Joe held his arms out in defence.

I sighed. It was completely logical after all; I would've done the same if I were in his place. "Anyway, yeah, I want to keep the name Kylie Valentine. I don't think I'd be able to handle it if every one knew I was the kid who ran away all those years ago. I don't even want to know how much chaos that would cause. I mean, think about it. I barely look the same and I definitely don't cower behind people any more."

"You never cowered." Joe frowned.

"Fine, hidden in the shadows so people didn't notice me. However you want to call it. Even I know that I used to be a total anti-social." I rolled my eyes.

"I see that you've developed one hell of an attitude." Joe smirked. "You know how much trouble that tongue of your could get you into."

"You don't even want to know Joe." I grinned giving him one of my man-eater smiles.

He stared at me stunned for a moment before both men laughed. "I wondered when the Ivashkov blood was going to kick in. You were always an odd kid." Martin ruffled my hair affectionately.

"Yeah, seriously, if you tell them the only heir to the Ivashkov line is back and she's a creepy dhampir girl, the whole school will freak."

"You are a royal nonetheless Kalani." Martin warned. "Dhampir or not, you need to be careful."

"I know. I've been fighting for the past six years out there, I ain't gonna let anything take me down especially not the douche bags in this school." I scoffed.

"Douche bags?" Martin arched his brows.

"Yeah, douche bags. Never heard of that before?" The blank looks on their faces made me laugh. "Trust me, within a week you'll be hearing a lot from me."

"I hope you're not going to be in detention any time soon."

"I can't guarantee that. Since when can any teenager guarantee it? Not unless I went to a human school." I rolled my eyes. "Speaking of, what time is it?"

"Around 5 in the morning."

"I'm going to have to call them during human time."

"Call who?"

"Everyone. I do have friends out there you know. I'm going to have to make up some excuse to say why I won't be able to go to work and why I'm not going to that school anymore and why no one's going to be able to see me ever again either." I sighed.

"You have a job?"

"I have two." I stated proudly.

"Two?"

"I'm a singer and I work at the club the Strigoi attacked tonight."

"Singer?"

"Lead singer of Vampire Guardians." I grinned.

"How appropriate." Martin scoffed. "I think I've heard of that."

"Really?"

"They play it a lot around the Academy."

"Wow… good thing I wear a wig."

"Yeah, now that would probably cause even more mayhem with the girls around here."

"Argh, fans can definitely be scary." I shuddered remembering one time when a fan tackled me to the ground. That was not fun. "I just realised, I'm going to have to start over aren't I? As in vampire 101 all over again…"

"I'm afraid so, especially if you plan on graduating."

"What if I don't want to?" I asked bluntly. The two stared at me in shock.

"What'd you mean?"

"Like I said. What if I don't want to?"

"You don't have a choice."

"Like hell I don't." I demanded angrily. "I've left once; I'll be able to do it again. Since you guys are forcing me back into this school, once I turn 18, none of you have any hold on me. I'll be able to leave before graduation."

"You don't know what you're saying Kalani."

"Don't I?" I glared at them. "I'm old enough to know what I'm talking about Martin. I'm not the same kid as I was six years ago."

"How many?"

"What?" I stared at him incredulously as he tried to change the subject.

"How many have you killed?"

"Too many to count." I grunted.

"You're born to do this Kalani. You have such strength. And you won't be able to keep any of those silver stakes with you apart from your mother's. You remember the rules right? No trainees are allowed them until graduation."

"I paid for them!"

"And we'll pay you back." Martin shook his head. "Look, I just don't want you to make any rash decisions. You might feel differently when the time comes. You might want to graduate. In any case, you'll be getting a tattoo soon for the unknown number of Strigoi you've killed."

"I'm not getting that tattoo. I refuse to have such an insignia on my body for eternity." I growled. "Don't you get it? I don't want to be stuck here. I don't want this life and you can't force me to choose it." With that said I stormed out of the room slamming the door behind me and ran down the corridor. As I dashed through the halls I ignored the curious stares and headed straight for the training rooms. Every second I spent here caused memories to flood back. I remembered my mother making me run down these corridors and timed me each time. I remembered her teaching me early in the morning out on the lawns.

I recalled my father teaching me the little magic he knew. Since he'd been a Spirit user with my mother as his Shadow Kissed guardian, he wasn't able to teach me much. I remembered my father throwing me up in the air with a cheerful smile on his face. When I passed the secluded area where I last saw my parents alive, I stopped running. Pain and anguish coursed through me as the memory of my parents' death ran through my mind. I bit my lip and continued running as tears pricked my eyes.

When I arrived in the training room, the only people there were two pairs practicing their combat. I had no idea what year they were but they were out of the door before I could say go when they saw the murderous expression I had. I striped off the jacket Joe must've placed on me when he knocked me out and ran for the first punch bag in sight. I'd broken around three and was on my fourth when I finally broke down. Tears poured out of my eyes and sobs raked through my body as I collapsed clinging to the punch bag.

My body shook from the force of the sobs and my fingers dug into the punch bag as regret filled me. I couldn't remember the amount of times I'd wished I could've been stronger all those years ago so that I could've been more of a help to my parents. I could still see them practicing with me in the training room, my mother throwing me to the ground countless times. She'd been a legend. She was an amazing guardian and I'd looked up to her. If only I'd been stronger that day…

"Kai." Joe whispered tugging me softly from the punch bag and wrapped his arms around me as I cried. This was exactly the same as all those years ago when my parents died. He had been the one to take me away from the corpses; he'd been the one to comfort me. He let me cry for as long as I needed and eventually I stopped. I sniffed and rubbed my eyes as he patted my head. Then I shouted in surprise when I felt him hit me.

"Ow what the fuck was that for?" I demanded glaring at him only to see that he was glaring too.

"Do you have any idea how worried I'd been when you suddenly disappeared all those years ago? You worried Martin and I so much and many others too! True, there were those who only gave you pity and wanted to suck up to you for your title but there were others who genuinely cared for you. Then you just disappeared without a word. No one knew where you were, we began to fear that you'd been taken by Strigoi or something. We sent out a search party but it was no use." Joe glared.

"That Ozera kid saw me leave." I hiccupped.

"If he did he never said anything. Although he was the one to tell us about the fault but he said he'd been mucking around when he found it. Seriously though, you have no idea how worried we were."

"Sorry Joey." I smiled apologetically as guilt filled me when I thought about the people who would've gotten genuinely worried about me. "I'm so sorry. I guess I never really thought about that in depth."

"You should've sent some letters or given us a phone call."

I gave him an incredulous look. "You know I couldn't have Joey. If I'd sent letters you guys would've traced it. If I called you guys would've traced that too. I wouldn't have been able to have that chance of freedom if I'd contacted you guys in any way. I needed that break Joey. And besides, somehow I know that if I hadn't gotten out, I wouldn't have been able to grow up like this and although I am sorry for causing so much worry, I'm not sorry for how I've turned out thanks to my freedom from this life."

"You're probably right about that…" Joe agreed reluctantly. "You never stopped mourning have you? That's why you were so against being back. You were scared."

"I'd have to be a moron not to be terrified to come back." I rolled my eyes. "But yeah, you saw my break down just now. I didn't want to be swamped by those memories again. All the time I think to myself: 'If only I'd been stronger.' If I'd been stronger I could've protected them. They might not have died."

"I'm sure that they're watching over you Kai."

"So am I." I smiled. "There are times when I feel so down, but I always cheer up some how. I'm sorry about how I acted in the office just now."

"It's alright; Martin had over reacted as well. He was just worried about you that's all."

"You know that I can't promise I'll stay here and become a guardian right? You have to know right now that in two years time; I just might run away again once I turn 18."

"Well at least we'll get some warning this time. Besides you never know, you might become attached to people here."

"Pfft, considering the Moroi that I've met so far from here, I somehow doubt that."

"Don't be so stereotypical," he laughed.

"I know. Most of them are probably worse snobs." I grinned and laughed at the look he gave me. I sobered up a little and continued. "To be honest, I probably only caught them at their worst. What teenage boy, Moroi or not, don't want to muck around? But that doesn't mean I have to like it, especially when they hit on my friends and used compulsion. Damn shame they're Moroi."

"You know that those four take combat classes right?"

I felt mischief build at this new piece of information. "They are? I figured out Drew might have since he was more muscular than a Moroi should be."

"How did you know he was muscular?" he asked narrowing his eyes.

"We shared a dance." I grinned. "He wouldn't be able to compel me and you know it."

"I know, sorry, I should've guessed."

"Brotherly instincts kicking in or what?" I teased. "Anyway, if the other three take training as well… maybe I will get to kick their asses."

"Just be careful Kai, they're better fighters than they look."

"And you ain't seen half of what I can do yet."

"I will, starting Monday."

"Huh?"

"I'll be your mentor to help you catch up on all your studies. I will also be training you outside of lesson times to see what you've got. You get the rest of the day off up until six thirty p.m. then you'll go to breakfast just like everyone else."

"Wow it's going to be interesting getting used to this time table again."

"Damn right. Let me take you up to your room."

"In the dhampir dorms right?"

"Yep. Your room is on my floor along with ten other your age."

"Okay. Do you think I can get some of my stuff sent here?"

"Martin's already on that, we took your keys already and he's personally going to pick up your stuff."

"Okay, do you know how cringe that is?" I shuddered.

"What'd you mean?"

"Martin was practically like a second dad to me, he's going to be picking out through my clothes as well." I stared at him expectantly.

"Your… oh right yeah I get what you're trying to say." Joe grimaced. "Well I'm sure he thought about that when he offered."

"I suppose so. He does have a phone right?"

"Yeah."

"Give me his number." Joe looked at me for a moment. "I promise I won't prank call him in the middle of my lessons no matter how much they bore me." Reluctantly he gave it to me and I typed it into my phone. "Has he left?"

"Not yet."

"When's he leaving?"

"A little later."

"Tell him to aim to get there for around seven in the evening. I'll get friends of mine to go and help him pack my stuff. They'll know what I want." I checked the time on my phone and smiled sadly. Everyone would probably be up by now, it was already nearly seven. I called Juan first to tell him that my uncle had finally come to pick me up and I was now all the way on the other side of America. Juan was sad to let me go but he was happy that I was with family again. Then I called my other manager, my music manager. She was screaming at me for ten minutes then finally quietened down. It was a difficult conversation but she finally accepted it. After all, there was nothing either of us could do. There was no way that could be a singer if I was stuck in the Academy for the next two years. I did tell her that I may be back in two years time, but that decision was indefinite.

Finally I called Ana and Louise, my two best friends. I called them both and joined the lines to make a three way conversation. "Hey Kai, what're you calling so early for? You're not normally awake until like, two in the afternoon on a Sunday." Louise teased.

"Did something happen last night? Oh my god, don't tell me that you got cornered by those guys from last night? You did kick their asses right."

"I didn't bump into them." I lied smoothly. "Listen, um… I won't be able to see you guys for a long time."

"Define a long time." Louise asked and I could practically see her narrowing her eyes.

"As in maybe forever…"

"WHAT?!" the pair screamed so loudly I had to hold the phone away from my ear and Joe gave my shoulder an encouraging squeeze. "WHY?!" they demanded.

"My uncle appeared."

"You've had no contact from him for six years and he suddenly shows up? How do you know he's not some crazy stalker?"

"I just do guys."

"So where are you?"

"The other side of America, I'm near Spokane." I told them feeling emotion grip my throat.

"That's such a bummer. The schools going to miss their little star so much. We're going to miss you so much. This is so sudden, why did you leave so suddenly? Did you uncle not even let you say goodbye to your friends?"

"Afraid not guys."

"Damn it."

"I know." I could hear the tears and silent sobs from both the other ends and I was sure that they'd be able to hear mine. "Listen, I'm sure I'll be able to weasel a few visits though. After all, it's not like I don't have the money to travel."

"Have you told the others?"

"I've told Juan and Ms Manager." I nodded even thought they couldn't see it. It was a habit.

"What did they say?"

"Juan said he was sad to see me go and Ms Manager threw a fit." I laughed.

"That's so like her."

"Listen, I want you guys to do me a favour. An old friend of my family is going to go to my apartment to pick some stuff up for me. Could you guys help him out later today? He'll be there around seven to eight. Here's his number." I read it out and both of them repeated it to make sure they got it right.

We continued talking for another hour before we finally hung up. I gave a huge sigh as I leaned into Joe's soothing hug. "Ready to see your room?"

"Please tell me I won't have to share."

"No, you have a room to yourself."

"Thank god for that." I grinned. He led me to the dhampir dorms and we climbed to the top floor which was also the seventh floor and he seemed pleased that I wasn't out of breath at all. I told him that I would run five miles each morning just to get milk then run back for exercise. He simply laughed. A few dhampirs were still wandering around talking to one another and they all stopped as we passed. I simply gave them a confident smile and friendly wave. I noticed the boys do a double take and some of the girls smiled back. Some of them even offered to take me to breakfast which I accepted gratefully.

"Here ya go."

I stepped inside and it was an ordinary room with an ensuit bathroom. Luckily the room was painted in dark colours rather than bright ones and the covers were a dark mauve colour. "Did you call ahead telling Martin who I was so that you made sure the stuff in my room was colours I liked?" I whispered with a low voice so that the others lingering in the corridor wouldn't hear.

"You caught me." Joe grinned. "I wanted to make it as welcoming as I could."

"Thanks Joey." I smiled then added with a louder voice. "Thank you Guardian Maxwell."

"You're welcome. Oi, all of you it's already past curfew, get back to your own rooms," he commanded and I grinned at his tone of authority as I shut the door behind me. I dumped my sports bag on the floor and collapsed to bed suddenly feeling exhausted.

"It's been such a long day. Who would've thought that I would one day be dragged back to this place?" I murmured staring out of the window. I closed the thick curtains to block out the light as the sun began to rise. Rummaging through my bag I took out my sports kit and slept in that after taking a quick steamy shower. I smiled at how much they prepared the room. They even gave me my favourite toiletries, berry scented shampoo and cranberry body scrub. It had been my favourite as a kid and it stuck with me. After brushing my teeth, I finally fell asleep setting my alarm for five p.m. it was definitely going to take a while to get used to the new routine…


	4. Chapter 3

**_Heya sorry for the ridiculously late update! School's being a pain and well that pretty much says it all X3. Hope you guys like this chapter! It's pretty passive compared to the first three._**

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Chapter 3

I woke at around four in the afternoon and groaned. It was the third time since being back at the academy. The first time I woke up, I'd been hoping that everything that happened last night had all been a dream. Then when I looked around the room, I realised there was no point in hoping. I was back and I was back for good. At least until I turned 18 which was a solid year and a half away.

After half an hour of rolling around, I realised that there was no way I could get back to sleep so I decided to get up. I had a shower to wash away the sleep in my body and I noticed a book on my desk when I came back out. It was a timetable outlining the times the meals were and when each lesson began and it also had the school rules. It didn't however tell me which lessons I had. Breakfast was at half six and lessons began at eight. Well at least that gave me a long time to get to reception to pick up my proper timetable. Or perhaps Joe would have it. He was going to be my mentor after all.

Luckily I'd packed a pair of jogging trousers in my bag and a spare shirt so I wore that with a pair of trainers. Looking at the time, I noticed that I still had two hours before anyone would be knocking on my door. Quietly I slipped out of my room and went for my daily run. I passed the area where I'd escaped six years ago and noticed with a small smile that they'd repaired it so it was impossible to get out. The grounds were bigger than I'd remembered and I nearly got lost heading back to the dorms.

"Hey, we were just about to knock on your door," the girl from last night smiled kindly.

"Yo, I'm Kylie but you can call me Kai. You guys?"

"I'm Roxanna and that's dozy Elizabeth." The taller of the two introduced. I had to smile at the browned haired green eyed beauty as she yawned. The taller one had stunning blonde hair and brown eyes and she was taller than me by around two inches. Els was taller than me by one.

"So basically Roxy and Els." I grinned. Els' head snapped up to look at me before laughing.

"We're totally going to get along well!" she grinned grabbing me for a hug.

"I take it you've just come back from a run." Roxy commented as we headed down the corridor. "Keeno."

"I'm not a keeno, it's hard to get used to the timetable you know? Most normal people get up at around one in the afternoon then go to sleep at two in the morning. You guys are the other way around, totally not my fault." I scoffed.

"Are you going to wear that the whole day?" Els frowned scrutinising my clothes.

"Well yeah, it's only to lessons right?"

"It's a Saturday sweet heart, we don't have lessons. It's a totally socialising day." Roxy grinned.

"Therefore there is no way in hell I'm letting you wear that the whole day." Els declared.

"I don't have anything else."

"Hm… you're around my size in everything other than the chest." Els inspected me with a thoughtful expression. "Oh I have the perfect outfit in mind! After breakfast you're going to get a make over."

"You're joking right?" I dead panned.

"Nope, afraid not. Els is a total fashion geek." Roxy shook her head.

"I am not a fashion geek. I just care about what people wear." Els huffed.

When we stepped into the dinning hall people were still talking for a moment but then everything fell silent as they realised the new kid was for show. Roxy and Els just continued talking and I chatted along with them keeping my chin up with confidence. I was doing well until some prat decided to sit beside me and wrapped their arm around my waist as though they owned me.

I turned around with a glare and I realised I recognised this particular prat. Nick O'Connor had been the jock of the school six years ago and from the gleam in his eyes I could tell that he was still the jock of the school. He was the one who picked on me every now and then, the one who took advantage of people.

"Are you sure you're not sitting on the wrong table? Someone of your standard should be at ours." He gestured at the table filled with slutty looking girls. I was surprised to see that the six Moroi from last night were there as well. Well that definitely cancelled the dude I danced with as a nice guy. It didn't take much for me to notice that most of the male Moroi sitting at that table possessed some muscle which indicated, the new definition of a jock was to be one who trained with the dhampirs.

"Aw, sorry but all I see over there is a sea of desperate fish who sell their bodies for popularity. I'd like to bet that every one of those girls have shared your bed." I smirked gesturing that table with my eyes.

"I wouldn't go as far as calling them fish." Nick frowned.

"You're right, that's inaccurate. They're skanks." I added and I could tell that Roxy and Els were trying hard to contain their laughter. "Oh and have you not read the shirt? 'You can look but you can't touch!'"

"Oh I saw."

"Then I guess you're going to have to pay for your ignorance." My smirk grew and I was just about to punch him when a hand landed on my shoulder. I turned around to see Joe standing there with a warning expression. "Guardian Maxwell."

"Valentine I want a word. Now," he ordered before staring at Nick. "And O'Connor, unless you want to run twenty laps in gym, get back to your own table."

Nick couldn't have scrambled away any faster. He did however give me a look that this wasn't over and I merely gave him one of my winks. "Sorry, looks like I'm in trouble already." I smiled apologetically at Roxy and Els.

"Don't worry, just head over to the room opposite yours when you're allowed out." Els shook her head with a mischievous grin. "You're not getting out that easily."

"Damn it." I grinned.

When we were out of ear shot Joe turned on his heel to glare at me. "Honestly Kai, the first day? I mean, it hasn't even been an hour and you could've had detention!"

"He didn't let go, what did you expect me to do?"

"Anything but punch a Moroi. If you want to punch them, wait till gym. All the lads on his table go to training."

"Is O'Connor good? I have a personal debt to settle."

"Just make sure you don't beat him to the point of death." Joe sighed.

"So basically that's your way of saying he's hopeless." I grinned.

"He's not the best, I'll admit that. How did you sleep last night?"

"I woke up three times." I shrugged. "It could've been better."

"You'll get used to it soon." Joe reassured me.

"I know, it's just annoying until I do that's all." I sighed. "Thanks for filling my room with my favourite stuff." I grinned.

"What're you talking about?" he looked away.

"Aw come on Joey, my room was decorated in my favourite colour and my favourite shampoo and body scrub was there too. I doubt this school is that accommodating to give such nice toiletries." I teased.

"Alright so you caught me there." Joe sighed.

"I'll catch you later, Roxy and Els wanna put me through hell." I groaned.

"You know your way back?"

"I nearly got lost this morning but I managed. I'll manage this time." I nodded. I took my time as I walked back to the dorms and I ignored the curious gazes. At least I didn't bump into the jock crowd again.

"Kai!" Els squealed when she saw who knocked on the door. Without a moment to spare she yanked me into the room and slammed the door behind me. Roxy was lying comfortably on the bed watching a movie that I recognised as 'Step Up 2: The Streets'.

"I love that movie!" I screamed hoping onto the bed beside Roxy. "That guy definitely has a body to die for and he can dance!"

"So you're into the dancing types huh?" Roxy and Els smirked.

"I don't really have a complete type. There were tonnes of dances where I came from but they were all total jocks. Not to mention I was on the same team as them so it would've been weird." I shuddered. The idea of going out with one of the jocks from the football team had me cringing.

"What'd you mean by team?"

"I'm – was on the football team." I sighed. Damn it and we had a tournament coming up as well. I was looking forward to beating the other teams…

"You miss them don't you?" Roxy asked gently.

"Well yeah, I mean, one minute I was living a normal life, the next I'm dragged into a loony school of vampires." I scoffed.

"It's not so bad here once you get used to it." Els reassured me. "Really, it's not that bad."

"How did you get dragged here any way? I mean, also, since you were a dhampir, what did you do to attract the school's attention?" Roxy asked curiously as she paused the movie.

"I didn't do anything to attract them as such. I have a part time job as a waitress and some Moroi punks were there. Stuff happened and well… the guardians and Moroi realised I wasn't human and decided to drag me here." I decided I wouldn't tell the whole truth. After all, how would they react if they found out I'd beaten three Strigoi all on my own? Now I just had to hope that those Moroi punks kept their mouths shut about that.

"Stuff happened?" Roxy asked.

"That's a bit vague isn't it?" Els persisted.

"You guys are a bit nosy aren't you?" I grinned.

"We like to keep on top of things," they chimed.

"The punks tried compulsion on me; it didn't work so the guardians suspected I was a dhampir." I shrugged.

"They dragged you to this school just because the Moroi compulsion didn't work on you?"

"Yep."

The expressions on their faces told me they didn't believe a single word of it but neither made a comment. At least they respected my privacy and I was thankful for that.

"Let's carry on with the movie." I gestured.

"Nuh-uh, you're getting changed first."

"You want to dress me up to watch a movie in your room?"

"After this we're going down to the common room."

Els grabbed my arm, practically manhandled me off the bed and towed me into her bathroom. "Put that on," she pointed at a pile on the counter then left me to change. I was sorting out through the clothes and I noticed with a smile that it was the type of things Ana loved to dress me in.

There was a rose patterned lace cami top which was a little tight around the chest but hugged my stomach nicely and a pair of faded skinny jeans. Geez, I never knew that people dressed up on Saturdays at this school. The top had a tantalisingly low neckline that I was fairly sure would get me in tonnes of trouble with the boys. I looked at myself in the mirror and couldn't help but smile. An image of what I used to look like popped into my mind. A long fringe that covered my face and unflattering clothes used to adorn my slightly plump body. Now all of that was gone. I still had a long fringe but it was swept to the side rarely ever covering my face.

"That's all past behind me now. That old me's gone and I'll never cower in shadows again." I whispered.

I stepped out of the bathroom and just for show posed against the doorframe for them. Roxy's eyes widened as she stared and Els laughed in delight. "You look like you might suffocate in that top," she commented.

"Well it is a little tight." I nodded. She stepped behind me and loosened some of the ribbons there. Now the top fitted perfectly, snug but not suffocating. "Please tell me there's a scarf of jacket to go with this. I'd rather not give any male guardians heart attacks. And does everyone dress up on Saturdays?"

"Occasionally." Els nodded absentmindedly. She dragged me back into the bathroom and Roxy followed us in with a bag in hand. "I'm thinking curls."

"Agree with you there," the blonde smiled. They sat me down on a chair in front of the mirror and I just let them work away at my head. When they were done, I was surprised to say the least. It didn't look like I had make-up on at all. Everything looked natural, the foundation had been mixed with cream so that it didn't show up in specks later during the day, and there was only a little eyeliner and a little brown sparkle on my lids. My cheeks were slightly redder and my lips were cherry coloured. My hair was the only thing that went through drastic change; curls framed my face and fell down my back.

"What shoe size are you?" Els asked.

"I think converse will go well with this outfit, don't you?" I grinned. "I've got a pair back in my room."

"Then you're all set, here's your jacket." Roxy agreed. I headed back into my room and grabbed my phone. Just as I did, it rang.

"Hello?"

"Oi Kai, is this your family friend?" Louise asked before someone else was speaking.

"They're rather protective of you aren't they?" Martin asked with amusement.

"Yeah, they're like that." I laughed.

"Is he?" Ana asked.

"Yep, that's him alright." I told them.

"Okay, just wanted to make sure. Didn't want some pervert to grab a hold of your clothes." Louise laughed. "Good luck at your new school."

"You guys good luck with the next two years." I replied before hanging up. I walked back out and waited for the other two to come out. Els had now changed into a purple corset mini dress with ripped leggings and black boots. Roxy was wearing a red body hugging dress and matching heels. "Okay, now you guys look like you're going off to a party."

"We are," they stated before dragging me downstairs with me in between the two of them. What I saw shocked me. As soon as I stepped into the dark common room, the lights came on revealing a beautifully decorated room and I turned to glare at Roxy and Els.

"You guys knew?" I was stunned and tried to feign anger but I couldn't stop the smile that tugged at my lips.

"We saw the new kid last night so half the dorm went to early breakfast so that we could decorate while you were eating and changing upstairs." Roxy grinned.

"We don't normally do this." Els commented.

"In fact, we never do this but then again we've never had a new kid this age before." Roxy added.

"Geez guys I don't know what to say." I beamed and hugged the both of them.

"Don't say anything then, introduce yourself to everyone and make yourself known," the pair shoved me into the crowd and I chatted with everyone confidently, skimming details about my life and how I got dragged into the academy. I made sure I told the same story as I told Roxy and Els. By the end of the day I'd gotten to know most of the dhampirs' names, especially those in my year. Some Moroi had turned up too and compared to the jocks, these were rather fun to talk to. They weren't arrogant and I appreciated it.

Occasionally I heard some songs which I knew were mine roar through the speakers and I toned down my dancing so that it was nothing special, just simple club dancing and a few grinds here and there.

The party was fun to say the least, which was something unexpected. At first I thought it was going to end up being a total disaster, but it was good to finally be able to socialise with the people in my year. The people around here weren't actually as bad as I remembered. But then again, it probably had something to do with the fact that I used to be a total anti-social so there was no way I could've known what they were like at all.

"Alright, since it's the initiation and welcoming party, let's see what you can do!" several dhampirs suggested.

"Well what'd you want me to do?" I asking lifting a single brow. Several of them seemed to have a double take as they stared at me. It was then that I remembered it was one of the things my dad used to do all the time. Damn, Martin was right, the Ivashkov blood had kicked in after my disappearance from the academy. Guess I had to be more careful than I thought.

"How strong are you? I mean, we're going to be having combat class first thing after assembly on Monday," one of them asked. His name was Josh if I recalled rightly.

"Well, how about this? if you could pin me for more than five seconds I'll give the first person to be able to pin me a hundred bucks." I offered as an incentive.

Everyone looked at each other for a moment before Travis piped up. "How about you give the boys a kiss if the winner is a dude?"

"Okay." I shrugged.

The guys gave each other a look before accepting the challenge and so did the girls no doubt wanting the spending money. After half an hour of skilfully dodging people, it was safe to say that all these dhampirs needed more training. Only one person came close to winning. Luke had been able to pin me for a second but as soon as we were on the floor I'd heaved up and thrown him away.

"Geez girl how did you get so good?" Luke laughed rubbing his back.

"I've been training as a martial artist since I was born pretty much." I shrugged. Technically it wasn't a lie since Mum had been teaching me martial arts since I could walk.

"Alright, enough fighting!" Els complained.

"Sing us a song Kai!" Roxy urged as the pair dragged me onto a make shift stage made up of tables shoved together. Panic rushed through me. Sing? Nuh-uh. No way. If what Martin had said was true and that the people in this school have heard my song, I'd be busted for sure! No way was I risking exposure that soon!

* * *

**_Well first of all thank you to the anonymous reviewer GracelynSkyeHathaway101 for her review! You should really get an account so I could reply to your reviews. Glad you like the story so far ;)_**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"No way, nuh-uh, I don't sing." I protested somewhat frantically.

"Oh come on Kai, everyone can sing. Well okay, maybe Starr can't but please just give it a shot!" Els pleaded with such a pouted face I couldn't deny her. But I wouldn't be that easy to win over.

"No way, not that easily." I huffed.

"Aw, is the new kid scared of a little audience?" Travis teased with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Well if you insist, but don't say I didn't warn you, I sing really high so you might want to cover your ears." I sighed in defeat at. I didn't accept taunts well, bite me. I searched my memory for a song that was high enough so that they wouldn't be able to recognise the voice. I decided on a cute Disney song from Thumbelina called 'Let Me Be Your Wings'. When the song ended most were staring at me and others were clapping.

"You are such a liar!" Roxy accused as she pointed at me with a reprimanding glare. "You can so totally sing!"

"I didn't say I couldn't sing. I just said that I don't sing. There's a difference." I grinned as I jumped of the makeshift stage to grab another can of Sprite. "I appreciate the compliment though. So you guys wanna hit me with all the gossip? I get the feeling that you two know everything there is to know around here."

"Well…" Roxy and Els shared a look before turning back to me and dragged me from the ending party. I waved to everyone and we settled on Els' bed while putting a movie on in the background to muffle the secrets that Roxy and Els knew about the school.

They filled me in on everything and I mean everything. The pair seemed to know everything anyone could ever want to know, even about the teachers! It was insane how much these two knew. By the end of the day, or rather the night since day was just starting; it was time to go to bed. I was still trying to get used to the time table around here. Since Martin wasn't back with my stuff yet, I had to borrow things from Roxy.

I was rolling around quite a lot feeling the energy left over from the drinks at the party running through me. I'd had so many cans of Coke and Sprite, no wonder I couldn't sleep. With a defeated sigh, I changed out of the pyjamas Roxy lent me and changed into my sports clothes again and decided to take a run as the sun began to rise above the horizon. I ran a few laps hoping that would tire me out but lick wasn't on my side it seemed. I headed to the training room again and made a few rounds on the punch bags. Halfway through I remembered there being an assault course o something like that for seniors. I was a senior now, so no doubt I'd be doing those in the near future. I might as well familiarise myself with it now.

The campus was so damn huge it took me half an hour to find it and ten minutes to get in. There was a wall around it preventing minors from getting in so I managed to climb a tree. I made sure there were ways to get out before jumping into the training grounds. This was by far the best assault course I'd ever seen! I'd used some military ones over the years and they were challenging as I progressed in difficulties. Then again, St. Vlad's was meant to be one of the best training schools in the world so it was only natural for them to have a state of the arts training course. The first round I managed to slip up once and fell into the water. By the time I completed the course a second time, I'd had the whole thing memorized and I didn't fall in either which was a bonus.

I could already tell that I was building up a sassy reputation here at this school and falling in when it was my turn to do the obstacle course was not on my agenda. I was so absorbed in the training that I hadn't even noticed someone else was there with me until I stopped at the end of the second round.

"You know Kai, if you wanted a head start you should've said." Joe smiled as he shook his head.

"Didn't know you'd be awake. Wouldn't dream of depriving you of your sleep. We all know how cranky you can get." I teased. "So why are you up?"

"You're lucky it's me who found you. It's my shift to patrol the grounds so I was just walking around when I see this little red haired cutie running impressively fast. You'll do well in gym class I reckon."

"I'm pretty sure I will. So I'm guessing the guardians on duty while we do this course thing will try to make it as hard as possible."

"Yeah, we'll be spraying you and throwing things."

"Ouch, sounds fun. Even the army people don't do that." I grimaced. "Ever forced them to do those things with weights?"

"Weights?"

"Yeah, you know, training weights." The blank look told me he had no idea what I was talking about. "When I tried to increase speed, strength and stamina, I added weights into my training program. When Martin gets back with my stuff, I'll show you."

"And it works?"

"I've been fighting Strigoi since age 13 and I'm still standing." I grinned. "And pretty unmarred if I do say so myself."

"Seriously Kai, I think you should get those tattoos."

"Not a chance. I haven't told anyone what really happened when I got caught. I haven't told them I'd taken down Strigoi and it's gonna stay that way. And I know it's not something to be ashamed of." I said cutting him off before he could start. "I'm not ashamed of my killings but just think about it. I'm a new kid who as far as they know have no vampire background. I'm a rogue dhampir who's just been found. How'd you think they're react if they find out I've been able to kill so many Strigoi? They'll be tripping over themselves with rumours. After all, all you guys have is my word that I've killed before. For all you know I could be lying."

"You wouldn't lie about something like that." Joe grimaced.

"But THEY don't know that. For all they care, I could've made it all up to get merit. I'll bet that most of them if not all haven't killed before. They'll think that it's cool to kill when in fact it's anything but. They don't know that though, probably won't even understand it until after their first kill."

"How did you feel after your first kill? You were 13?"

"I got jumped and I survived." I sighed. "I was tired afterwards but I was also sick to the stomach. I threw up afterwards because killing – no matter what it is – is never right. Never glorious. It doesn't matter whether they're evil or not because once upon a time they were like us and it makes me sick to the core that some would willingly turn to Strigoi."

"I can never understand myself either but it happens. Some of us end up being turned by force."

"That's what I find the most painful. When I've killed, I try to convince myself that it was for the best, that I was freeing them especially if they'd been forcefully turned. Of course I have no way of knowing so I think of each one the same. That none of them wanted to be turned." I smiled sadly at the sky.

"You really are much older than you look. Heck your mentality is impressive." Joe complimented. "Why are you soaked?"

"Oh I guess you didn't see me fall in." I grinned sheepishly.

"How much have you improved on the elements?" Joe asked with a hushed voice.

"It's alright. I can do quite a few tricks but I use my mind abilities the most. I can't trust the elements unless I have the bracelet that Dad made on."

"The one that helps keep it in control right?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "Seriously, I can't even spark a fire without something exploding. I have no control over it whatsoever."

"Maybe you could start some training here."

"No! No Joey, I can't have that old me back here. I won't let it. I'm a dhampir and that's all I am." I stated firmly.

"But you are also a royal despite your denial of it," he retorted with equal firmness. "You can't run away from it forever Kai. You are a royal no matter what you say."

"Can we just pretend that I'd died? That's what you've all had to suppose for so long right? When I've been gone for the last six years. Just let it go Joey, please."

"Kai, these kinds of things are impossible to hide. Someone is going to recognise you despite your change in appearance. You won't be able to run forever."

"Can't I at least try?"

"You can but I can promise you won't win." Joe sighed.

"I know, I'm pretty sure that people will find out in the end but I want to prolong this freedom for as long as possible. I'll find others I can trust with this secret and I'll let them know. I just want some safe friends before the secrets are out, that way I won't be on my own again." I smiled ruefully. "I'm sorry I'm so selfish."

"Hey, it's about time you were. Heck you were the most selfless kid I've ever known when you were tiny. Besides, I'm pretty sure that if you tried, you could've escaped. But you didn't. You chose to stay here."

"Things might be different this time." I shrugged. "Besides, now that you know I'm alive, I was pretty sure that you guys would've tried harder to find me and it would've made life harder. This way I get to finish my studies, train a lot and get some great skills out of it. I'll decide what happens when the time comes."

"I hope you stay little sky." Joe smiled fondly at me.

"Only time will tell Joey. Only time will tell."

"You definitely got that from your dad." Joe laughed.

"Aren't you meant to be patrolling? I really shouldn't keep you from your duties." I grinned.

"It's no worry, I asked Mark to watch for me."

"Mark as in Guardian Brooks Mark?" I arched my brows.

"Yes."

"Damn I'm gad it's you who found me then." I grimaced.

"How come?"

"Guardian Brooks had it in for me. I swear! I was always fine in class, maybe quiet but I always did all the word. Yet every time he'd pick on me!" I complained.

"I think I remember that." Joe chuckled.

"I was going to offer patrolling with you but if he's around too, I'm afraid that's a nuclear war zone for me." I scoffed.

"It can't be that bad."

"I'm not taking a chance on that."

"You can't avoid him forever Kai. He'll be teaching you too."

"Oh bugger he will won't he? Damn. Oh well, I'll brace myself for it then. I'll see you later Joey." I smiled. "I would hug you but as you can see, I'm drenched so…" He tugged me close and planted a comforting kiss on my forehead like he used to.

"Hopefully you won't get in trouble at breakfast Kai."

"Can't promise anything but I'll try." I grinned before sprinting back to the dorms. I managed to get back without being noticed. I had a quick shower to get the muck off before falling asleep.

The next day was fairly uneventful but one thing caught my attention. Martin still hadn't come back yet. I'd spent the majority of the day – well night in this school's case – receiving a tour led by Roxy and Els. They're really warmed up to me compared to everyone else and I like them a lot too but I couldn't help but ask why they like me so much. They told me it was because I called the girls on the 'popular' table fish. To say that those girls hadn't liked it would be an understatement. One of them even drenched me in water with their magic but I didn't bother giving them the light of day. There was no point. If I retaliated I would've gotten into trouble and I'd rather make Joe's job as my mentor doable.

"Valentine, can I have a moment?" Joe asked when he found me in the common room watching a film with a bunch of other dhampirs.

"I could've sworn I haven't done anything today but okay. See you later guys." I told them as I got up.

"Tell us all about it when you get back Kai." Els grinned. I winked at her as I followed Joe out.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble." Joe told me when we were out of ear shot. "Martin's back."

"Took him long enough." I sighed in relief letting out a breath I didn't realise I was holding.

"It seems that your boss and managed delayed him."

"What? Oh they can be like that sometimes. They're quite protective of me as you can probably guess."

"Yeah, they asked him a lot of questions apparently."

"Those friends of yours could become brilliant interrogators." Martin commented dryly as we walking into his office. "Your things are being put into your room as we speak. And what the heck was in the metal trunks? Those weighed more than a tonne of bricks."

"They were weights."

"Next time give a man some warning. I'm not as strong as I used to be."

"Don't worry; there won't be a next time. Next time the movers will do that job."

"So why did you want those weights? Your friends said that they absolutely had to be taken or you'd throw a fit."

"They're training weights for when I run or just train in general." I shrugged. "And I wouldn't have thrown a fit as such…"

"I can't wait for a demonstration." Joe commented excitedly. "You'll show me tomorrow after class since you'll be taking extra class with me."

"Okay." I nodded.

"I can see how you've changed for the better." Martin smiled. "Those friends of yours remind me of your parents."

"Thanks. Now as much as I like you both, being in the headmaster's office for too long will cause rumours I'd rather avoid so I'll se you both around." I grinned.

"Before going to bed, knock on my room and I'll give you your schedule." Joe told me.

"Will do." I gave both men a hug before walking out.

"Hey!" someone called out as I headed for the dhampir dorms. Turning around I saw the four Moroi guys from the other night. I stopped walking, leaned against the wall, crossed my arms and stared at them with a hard expression as they approached. I had yet to forgive them for what they tried to do, especially the one called Dan for not backing off.

"So er… Your name's Kylie Valentine." Dan started off awkwardly as the others pushed him forward.

"Yeah and you're Dan. What about it?"

"I just want to say sorry about the other night. That shouldn't have happened. I had a little bit too much to drink. We'd all had some drinks but I'm really light weight so…"

Thinking back, I remembered his breath stinking of alcohol when he pressed against me in the locker room.

"And we're sorry for hitting on your friend like that too," the twins chimed and looking at them I saw that they were only slightly sorry. Hm, nope not good enough. No doubt the guardians had made them apologise, otherwise I doubt they would've approached me. And me being the protective friend that I was, I wasn't going to let this go that easily.

"You guys didn't mention anything about the Strigoi did you?" I narrowed my eyes at them.

"No."

"Good, cuz it'll only be humiliating for you guys if you tell considering you guys take combat class. See you around jerks." I waved as I walked off.

"Do you think she forgave us?" Jackson asked.

"Who cares, that chick is hot." Quinn scoffed and then I couldn't hear anymore because they were too far away. I headed straight to my room to unpack. Ana and Louise had made sure all my training clothes had been packed along with framing my team's shirt. They'd also framed one of the pictures with everyone I loved in it. It had been taken at one of the after game parties when we'd won. Juan had offered to hose it at the club and even Ms. Manager was there to celebrate. They'd also packed a gorgeous photo album. They'd somehow managed to gather the whole football squad and the coach to scribble a note. I laughed when my coach swore at my awful timing of the departure but he did leave a mushy note at the end of his rant. Juan had written something and so did Ms. Manager. Louise had written a song and Ana gave me a three page essay reminding me how important fashion was. There were several DVDs of previous gigs and little videos of parties we'd attended. God I was really going to miss everyone.

I unpacked everything, hid the photo album and stuck all my posters on the walls. I hung my team's shirt on the wall opposite my bed and headed off to collect my schedule from Joe. When I saw the list of my lessons I grimaced. I had after class lessons practically everyday. I had two extra combat lessons and three vampire 101 classes. I had after class combat with Joe on Mondays and Wednesdays. I was not looking forward to vampire 101 with Brooks. They were definitely not going to be fun.

To say that I didn't get a good night's sleep would be an understatement of the year! I received a phone call from each member complaining about my 'uncle's' bad timing since we had a tournament the up coming Saturday. Apparently they were going to be filming and broadcasting it so I'll be able to watch the game if I didn't end up passing out by the end of the week from information overload.

"Kai? Kai!" I heard someone short. A moment later there was a bang indicating someone just crashed into my room. "And she isn't even up." I heard Els huff.

"Oi Kai, you have five minutes to get down to breakfast or else all the pancakes will be gone." Roxy whispered into my ear.

"Pancakes!" I squealed promptly falling out of the bed due to excitement having heard about food. "Ow…" I complained causing the pair to laugh. Hastily I grabbed clothes which were appropriate for class which in my case entailed: army styled combats, walking boots, a tank top and oversized V-neck jumper which ended mid thigh. I tied my hair into an unruly bun with strands falling everywhere before walking out of the bathroom where I'd changed. It wasn't the fact that I was shy to change while other people were around. It was due to the fact that I had an Ivashkov birthmark on my lower back and since I wanted to keep my identity a secret, I needed to hide it. Maybe I should get some bandages to hide it during combat class. I knew that shirts tend to ride up in fights.

"And here I was hoping you weren't going to be a total fashion disaster." Els sighed. I noticed how Els was wearing shorts with leggings while Roxy was wearing a dress with leggings.

"What? This is what I usually wear." I said defensively as we headed to the dinning hall. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with what I'm wearing."

"You have a great figure, why hide it?" Roxy asked.

"I'm not hiding it. I just find baggy stuff more comfortable."

"How about wearing jeans instead of looking like an army chick?" Els grinned.

"Jeans are restricting especially in fights and there's nothing wrong with being an army chick might I add." I huffed.

"You're connected with the army?"

"I've attended a few of their camps." I shrugged nonchalantly as I yawned. "I hate mornings."

"It's not morning, technically it's the evening."

"Fine I hate getting up." I stuck my tongue out childishly. Unfortunately, I wasn't looking at where I was going so I didn't see the person getting up from his seat in front of me and therefore succeeded in crashing into him. His arm darted out to wrap around my waist and instinctively my hands flew to his chest to steady myself. Looking up I found myself staring at the same deep soulful sapphire eyes that had bore into mine a couple of nights ago.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Sorry." I smiled apologetically as I removed myself from him. I noticed how his hand seemed to linger on my back a little.

"Why don't you sit with us this morning?" Dan offered gesturing at the spare seats. I glossed over at the other people on the table and shook my head. Nope, definitely not sitting at the jock table.

"You guys up for it?" I asked turning to Roxy and Els.

"Sorry, I think Ingrid's already reserved a table for us." Els shook her head at Dan. The three of us walked off and headed towards another table where an energetic bubbly sort of girl was practically bouncing in her seat as she waved.

"Hi." I smiled in greeting.

"You must be the new girl that Els and Roxy was talking about!" she gushed excitedly. "I decided to leave early this morning to get a good table. Otherwise I would've been there to wake you up as well. I'm Ingrid French."

"Wow you're a total morning person." I laughed. "Nice to meet you I'm Kai."

"I know, I've heard. Apparently you decked everyone on Saturday at the initiation party. Wow…" she marvelled.

"It wasn't that amazing." I grinned as I got a plate of pancakes and a coffee.

"I can't wait to see you in combat class," she squealed. "Have you got your schedule yet?"

"Yeah." I said. "I'll show you after breakfast, how about that?"

"Sounds good." Ingrid nodded enthusiastically. "So how are you feeling? It can't be easy being separated from everyone you've known."

"It's not easy but it's alright." I shook my head with a smile. "Besides, it's probably for the better this way." This way I could train for the best and protect everyone even better. And as much as I loved my new family in the human world, I also loved Joe and Martin and seeing them again reminded me just how much I'd missed them.

"What'd you mean?" Roxy asked curiously.

"This way I can learn from the best so that I could protect people and things which are important to me." I grinned. I would make my parents proud. Thinking back, I knew that Mum and Dad would've wanted me to graduate from this school. This was the place where they grew up and met; where they fell in love and where they donated their time to help train novices. While Dad could've lived at the Royal Courts, he chose to stay at this school to help train any Spirit users that appeared.

Mum on the other hand wanted to help train the novices. She'd been an absolute legend in the guardian world and I loved her so much. As my mind began to cast back to what happened on that day, Els asked me a question.

"Sorry what?" I asked shaking my head to clear my mind.

"Are you okay Kai? You looked a little pissed for a moment." Ingrid frowned with concern.

"Sorry, just thinking back to a jerk I remembered from my old school." I lied easily.

"We were just saying how well you're fitting in already." Roxy grinned.

"Really?" I smiled cheekily. "Give another day or two and I bet you I'll be sent straight to the headmaster's office."

"So I take it you're not exactly good at keeping to the rules?"

"Well, I've been told that I have a sharp tongue so…" I shrugged.

"So basically you talk back a lot." Els laughed.

"I'd be careful with Guardian Brooks then. He doesn't react well to people with sharp tongues at all." Ingrid shook her head with a shudder.

"Really?" I asked feigning intrigue. I knew full well what she meant but they didn't know that I already knew the teacher. "I hope I get in his good books then. I've got him as a teacher for three extra classes a week."

"You're joking," the three dead panned.

"You are one unlucky girl Kai," Roxy shook her head.

"It's been nice knowing you. That man is an absolute devil." Els shuddered.

"I've never known a teacher as strict as him." Ingrid grimaced.

"Wow, great luck I seem to have then. I seem to recall having vampire 101 with him after assembly." I tapped my chin thoughtfully.

"I think I have the same." Els commented.

"We've got training." Roxy and Ingrid piped up.

"I've got extra class with that dorm dude Guardian Maxwell I think after lessons." I sighed.

"And to think we were going to drag you over for a movie. How about after dinner?"

"I think I should be free by then." I nodded.

"Then it's settled!" Ingrid cheered loudly causing everyone in the hall to look at her. "Sorry…"

"You are crazy you know that. You don't look like someone who's been stuck in the infirmary for ages whatsoever." I laughed patting her back. "So what time are classes meant to start and do you think I could get away with not attending assembly?"

"Well, to be honest, since it's your first one I think you should go. You might hear something important. And Mr Hunt isn't actually that boring."

"Mr Hunt?" I questioned.

"He's the headmaster. Haven't you met him yet?"

"I think I saw him when I first came here." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well either way, I reckon we should get going. It's nearly time for assembly." Ingrid suggested and we all left the dinning hall. I hastily brushed my teeth so that my breath didn't stink of caffeine and pancakes. I grabbed one of my shoulder bags with a note book and pencil case inside for class.

The four of us headed to the hall where assembly was going to take place and as soon as I walked in I was engulfed in a familiar scent of lavender. Looking over to the side, I realised why. Guardian Maria Valiere was standing not far from me and I remembered her as one of the kind female guardians in this academy. If I remembered rightly, she taught home economics and maths. Checking my schedule, I realised that I had her teaching me for both of those subjects. Guardian Valiere was a kind woman in her mid 40s now and she had curly blonde hair which was always tied into a bun and soft yet sharp chocolate coloured eyes. Her hair was tied to show off her _molnija_ marks. They were tattoos that signified a guardian's kills. So far, her marks symbolised the killing of three Strigoi. If I were to get those marks, I would perhaps have two stars showing two accounts where I've killed an unknown number of Strigoi and two other single marks which I couldn't remember symbolising four individual or accountable kills, one of when I was ten and the other three of the other night.

Six years ago, I'd run away before they managed to give me a tattoo for my kill. Heck if I had that tattoo now, it would've been harder to hide my identity. I would've had to make some sort of story up which would've been even more complicated to fabricate. Thank goodness I didn't have it.

Looking over she caught my eye and she gave me a warm welcoming smile which I returned with a cheerful smile; another thing that I wouldn't have accomplished all those years ago. The four of us took a seat towards the back and I couldn't help but marvel at the structure of the hall. Seriously, the architecture of this academy would never fail to amaze me. The structures were ancient with a splash of modern technology with electricity and other types of machinery.

Roxy had been right earlier, Martin was pretty good at making the morning speech interesting. Not once did I think about slipping off to sleep while he spoke. However, when another guardian stepped up, that was a different story. I was practically out for the count by the end of his first sentence. His voice was so dreary I was hoping I wouldn't have him as a teacher for any class at all. I frowned when I didn't seem to recognise him, he must've been new. Either that or he hadn't been one to fawn over me as a child. In all fairness, out of all the guardians in this school that I would be able to confidently identify, I only knew six who knew me personally before my escape.

When his dreary speech was over, Roxy had to nudge me pretty hard to wake me up. I yawned and stretched as I stood up to release the tension in my muscles having sat in the same position for nearly an hour. Roxy and Ingrid laughed when Els and I yawned at the same time and even stretched at the same time. The pair of us had no clue as to why they were laughing until we looked at each other and realised what just happened. We were quickly nicknamed the dozy pair by the two more cheerful girls and they teased us as we headed to our first class. I was so not looking forward to this. Nope. Class with Guardian Brooks was not going to be fun whether he knew me this time round or not.

Luckily, for this first lesson he wasn't teaching anything particularly complicated. God vampire history could get so boring especially when it came to learning about one of the previous Queens: Tatiana Ivashkov. As far as I knew, she wasn't one of my close relatives. Although her nephew Adrian Ivashkov was. If I remembered correctly, he was my great great great great great grandfather. Or maybe he was more ancient than that…

"Valentine, a word if you please?" Guardian Brooks commanded as I walked past him at the end of class. Els gave me a look saying she'd meet me outside and I nodded in acknowledgement. "Here are some books and I want you to look over chapter one and two in preparation for tomorrow's extra session."

I stared at him and accepted the books numbly. "Please tell me you're joking." I nearly choked. I cannot believe that I was getting work on the first day! That was so uncalled for. No one else did.

"If you want to graduate with dignity, I would read through chapter one and two thoroughly," he almost glared at me. Almost. Wow he really did hate people talking back to him or even questioning his decisions.

"What is it with everyone and talking about bloody graduation?" I grumbled as I stormed out of the classroom. "It's in two fucking years away."

"And Valentine?"

"Yes?" I said scornfully.

"There will be no swearing in my classroom." I stared at him in shock for a few moments before stomping out while I grumbled.

"What's wrong?" Els asked worriedly.

"That asshole set me homework!" I complained.

"Ouch, that's unfortunate." Els grimaced.

"Whatever let's just get to H.E. before he catches me swearing about him." I scoffed. "I already know that he and I aren't going to get along at all."

"Home Economics is actually pretty fun. All we do is cook. I'm not sure why it's in the syllabus to be honest. I reckon it's so that people actually know how to cook when they get out into the world or something."

"Which is a ridiculous notion when most of the Moroi in this school can afford bloody cooks. They're so damned lazy." I scoffed.

"You'd be surprised Kai. There're quite a lot of people in the class who are pretty talented with cooking." Els smiled.

"Are you?"

"I'm afraid I'm rather disastrous. No one would pair up with me because of it. Last week I almost set the whole classroom on fire and spilled an entire wok full of oil. We were frying stuff. If it weren't for the fire specialists in the class, the room would definitely have been wrecked." Els sighed.

"Well no problem, I'll go with you."

"Really?"

"Of course, I'll just let you chop stuff. Can you do that?"

"Sort of but not well."

"I'll help teach you."

"Thanks Kai!" she squealed. When they walked in, I practically stopped dead at the door way when I noticed who else was in the class. Nick O'Connor.

"Seriously, could this day get any worse?" I grumbled.

"Well, I wouldn't say it'd get worse but it might get better depending on how you look at things. We've got combat class for two hours before lunch." Els piped up.

"That's better, definitely better." I smirked.

"You must be Kylie Valentine. I think I saw you this morning but I haven't had the chance to formally introduce myself. My name is Maria Valiere."

"But most know you as Guardian Valiere right?" I smiled kindly. "I sort of got the gist of titles in this school."

"Have you ever cooked before?"

"You bet."

"Then you should find this class relaxing or challenging depending on your level of skill." Maria smiled warmly. "Please take a seat for now and we'll start in a few minutes time while waiting for everyone else to arrive."

"Nice you meet you Guardian Valiere." I inclined my head to show my respect for her before following Els to the back of the room beside the window.

"Well look who it is, it's the new chick of the school." Nick grinned as he turned around in his seat.

"Wow it's the leading douche bag of the school." I marvelled with a mocking smile.

"Hey there'll be no bruising the ego," a boy I didn't recognise commented.

"I don't think I know you." I tilted my head to the side with a curious glance. Nope, definitely haven't seen such a cute innocent looking boy before.

"I'm Christian Chance," he smiled.

"Nice to meet you. So I take it you're his bodyguard."

"I don't need a bodyguard." Nick scoffed.

"Really? Well we'll have to see about that." I grinned. "Look forward to seeing you in combat class O'Connor."

"Anything to see you out of that jumper and sweating all over." Nick commented lustfully.

"I'd be surprised if I even break a sweat fighting you." I rolled my eyes.

"Alright class, let's get going. The assignment's on the board. Get to it!" Maria commanded and everyone dispersed. All it said on the board was: 'Make what you can with what's provided.' Since all the ingredients and material was already set up on the table for us, we didn't have to get anything.

"So we can make stew looking at the ingredients we have. That ain't too hard. Right, Els please tell me you can chop potatoes into relatively medium sized chunks."

"Yep, that I can do."

"And the carrots."

"Yep."

"What about the onions?"

"I'll start crying and that'll take a while."

"Then I'll do the onions. Could you measure the water and wine with the amount that I tell you, and also chop the tomatoes and mushrooms?" I listed as I rolled my sleeves up. I twirled the knife in my hand before proceeding to dice the onions into medium pieces and some others which would be smaller. Then after rinsing the knife and cutting board, I chopped the meat into chunks and diced some of the herbs too.

I began with frying the onions with a dash of oil and salt. When that was done, I threw in the mushrooms, carrots with a chunk of squished garlic so that it could be easily located and removed later. I liked using garlic in my cooking but I hated eating it. Unconsciously I began thinking of a tune in my head. It was a habit I fell into since a young age when I starting cooking for myself. I fried everything in the pot and swayed a little to the tune that no one else could hear but me since it was in my mind. I sprinkled salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar before adding in the meat. When that was slightly cooked, I added the herbs so that the meat would be fried with the spices and the tomatoes. Then I added the water and wine. I chucked in a few splashes of tobasco and a little ketchup before placing the lid on the pot. Then I washed everything that we didn't need. Looking around I noticed most were only halfway.

"Have you done this before?" Maria asked curiously as she came over.

"I've been cooking for a while. Living alone has its benefits." I shrugged.

"You live alone?"

"Lived." I corrected. "And yeah, I'm an orphan hence there's no one to throw up a hassle about me being shoved into this school so suddenly."

"How long have you been on your own?" she asked with motherly concern.

"A few years." I shrugged. "Oh and Els turn the flame down, some retard just turned it up hoping it would boil over and cause a mess." I said without even looking over. I'd seen the prank from the corner of my eye while the prat thought Maria had my whole undivided attention. "Open the lid to let some of the pressure out too please." I instructed. Els did exactly as I asked.

"How did you know that?" Maria asked curiously with surprise glistening in her eyes.

"I've learned to take notice of things even if I'm not focusing on it." I smiled.

"Definitely a good skill. I look forward to tasting it."

"Thanks." I stood up, gathered some corn flour and mixed it with some water before adding it to the stew to thicken the mixture so that it wasn't too runny. "You want a taste?" I offered to Els.

"Yes please!" she nodded enthusiastically. She took a sip and her eyes twinkled in delight.

"I take it you like it." I laughed before taking a taste for myself. Something was still missing… scanning the table again I grabbed the salt and added a little bit more, then I added some lemon sauce with a splash of Lea and Perins. Taking another taste I nodded in satisfaction. "Leave that to simmer for a while longer to let the flavours develop even more and then it'll be set."

"You're like a total cooking genius!" Els giggled.

"Nope, it's called getting tired of buying take-away all the time so I bought some simple cookbooks before developing my own style." I grinned. "Seriously, take-aways are great but only once in a while. Freshly cooked food and fresh off the stove or out of the oven type of food is always going to be the best."

"That is so true." Maria agreed having heard my statement.

"Is there an oven available for use?" I asked.

"Yep. This is one thing I do know how to use." Els said cheerfully. "Do you want it warm?"

"Yeah." I nodded. After a couple of minutes to let the oven warm up, I put the pot in and turned the stove off. Everyone stayed on during break to have a taste of their food.

"Why do I get the feeling you'll pass Home Economics with flying colours?" Els laughed after polishing off her plateful of stew. "Seriously, what else can you cook?"

"Well…" I trailed off. There was a huge range so the list could've gone on for a while.

"Never mind. Can you do deserts too?"

"Hell yeah."

"I have to say Kylie, this is impressive. If you ever wish to cook, you are welcome to come here." Maria smiled.

"Really?" I beamed.

"Yes. I trust you not to wreck this classroom since I can see that you respect cooking and you can handle the equipment so well."

"Thank you so much Guardian Valiere."

"Hey Kai, we'd better go. Guardian Maxwell and Jenson won't be happy if we're late. More like they'll kill us." Els piped up. "Thanks for the great lesson as usual Guardian Valiere."

"It's a pleasure Elie. Be careful in combat training girls." Maria cautioned with a voice I recognised so well.

"Oh I can't wait." I smirked while thinking of my revenge against the boys who'd picked on the wrong girls. Els and I wasted no time and hurried to the dorms to change into appropriate attire. Having done that we rushed to the training rooms. We weren't late but by the time we arrived several pairs had already begun training.

"Oi, you must be that new kid, Valentine right? Let's see what you can do. O'Connor, get over here! We're going to start you off easy then build upwards." The one I supposed was Guardian Jenson explained. He must've been new. I would've remembered someone like him if he was here all those years ago. He had a tanned body, firm muscles without being over muscular and intelligent eyes that suggested he'd witnessed far too much in his life time.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Well if it isn't Kylie? Are you still feeling tough?" Nick commented snidely.

"Really, I'm sure that you're capable of not being a jerk. If you think you're strong and such a skilled fighter. How about wearing a blindfold and I promise I'll only use a finger to attack?" I smiled over sweetly.

"Just don't go crying. If I win, I get one night," he leered.

"Alright, if you win." I agreed with a shrug. He placed the blindfold over his eyes and five seconds later I'd paralysed him using pressure points having struck them with a finger as I'd stated earlier. I removed his blindfold and grinned. "You want another go?" I asked as I released his paralysis with a carefully practiced slam to the chest. Without wasting time he lunged at me while I was still close and I simply ducked and side stepped him. I had to give him a little fighting credit. At least his stance was good and so was the swing of his arm. He faked a right blow to my head and brought his leg up hoping to kick me. I stepped slightly further to the side and forward. At that moment I knew he didn't have total balance and with a firm prod to the head he fell backwards. Those who were closest stepped to stare.

"Valentine, have you had training before?" Guardian Jenson demanded with glee.

"Since I was born. I'm mainly a martial artist among other things." I shrugged. "Do you mind if I ask a favour?"

"Go ahead."

"Towards the end of the session, I want to spar with those three at the same time." I pointed at Dan and the twins. It was just my luck that they were in my class.

"Sure, can I ask why?"

"I have a personal debt to settle but I'll let them have as much warm up as they need."

"You want to spar all three at the same time?"

"It'll be quicker that way. Do they bruise easily?"

"They've grown tough over the years. They'll be fine." Guardian Jenson said with amusement lacing his tones at my confidence.

"Valentine, let's warm you up." Joe commanded gesturing for me to pair up with him. "That was nicely controlled," he complimented as he threw a punch towards me at a fast pace. "I thought you were going to beat the hell out of him."

"So long as I've damaged his ego and gotten my message across it's fine." I shrugged. "From the looks of things those three are much better fighters so I'll step up the game for that one."

"You be careful, the Dragomir twins are pretty good fighting paired up and can sometimes be unpredictable and Zeklos certainly has a few tricks up his sleeve."

"What did you call them?" I stared in shock as I blocked another attack.

"The Dragomir twins and Zeklos."

"They're fucking royals?" I hissed.

"Language."

"What made them decide to take combat class when they'll be assigned the best guardians?"

"Who knows but they're good so don't underestimate them."

"Alright thanks for the heads up."

"Why do you smell of delicious food?"

"I just cooked and ate in Home Economics."

"Ah, you good at cooking?"

"I'm not too shabby." I grinned. "If you go find Maria later I think there's some left in the classroom that she's saved for some people."

"I look forward to it. Fish isn't my favourite so I was going to eat plain pasta for lunch. But if there's stew on offer and you're still alive after eating it, I'll try some."

"Of course I'd still be alive!"

"Sorry but your parents were the worst cooks imaginable," he whispered.

"I suppose." I agreed. After an hour and a quarter of sparring with Joe, it was time for the fight against the three royals.

"So I take it you haven't forgiven us." Dan grimaced.

"Afraid not." I smiled. "I don't hold it against you for attacking me particularly but I'm a protective friend. Call me a bitch if you want but I would be doing my friends injustice if I didn't kick your asses."

"That's understandable." Quinn shrugged.

"We cocked up so now we fight." Jackson agreed as he flexed his shoulders.

"Strike a vital point and you're out." Guardian Jenson stated. "A clean fight people."

"Give me a moment." I asked and I placed the blindfold over my eyes. Nothing like giving myself a challenge. "Okay, whenever you guys are ready." I told them.

At first nothing happened but then I felt something to my right so I dropped and slipped under the arc of his arm. Swinging up I trailed along his back and struck his pressure point. From the position, I reckon I delayed his reaction time. Spinning around I punched his stomach, slammed my hand on his chest forcing the air from his lungs and threw him in the general direction of the crowd. One down two to go.

Suddenly I was thrown into the air and just as they were about to land a kick I grabbed their legs and propelled myself from harm. For around five minutes things were pretty tight with none of us able to land any critical strikes. Joe wasn't kidding when he said they were good. But even with their sync, they managed to leave several vulnerabilities. Taking the initiative I surged forward and threw one into the other. Then following my movement I used one of the twins as a propeller weapon and slammed him into his brother. The pair of them together protected each other well but I realised that defending solo was not their forte so all I had to do was separate them for long enough to attach and end the fight. I had to say that they kept the act up well covering most openings.

At the first chance I got I grabbed one by the arm and as the other moved to follow I jumped and kicked him away slamming my leg against his arms as he lifted them to protect his chest. Then I applied pressure to certain points of the twin I was still holding and went for his heart. Then the other twin lunged leaving his back completely open. I flipped over him, grabbed his shoulders as I timed my movements precisely and threw him to the ground before striking his heart as a signal for fatal point. He was out.

Then awareness surged when I sensed someone else join the fight. I rolled away just in time to avoid my hair being gripped. Instead the hand caught the blindfold and it fell away from my eyes. Spinning around I avoided the worst of Drew's tackle. The pair of us tumbled to the ground and I felt the air leave my lungs. Heaving upwards I threw him off and the two of us circled each other.

"So I guess you wanted a go." I blew at a lock of hair that fell into my face.

"Like I said before, I want to see what that body of yours can do." Drew grinned before faking a left. His strike had more speed and power behind it compared to others and I could tell I was going to have to step up my game a little more. I flexed my hands releasing some of the tension and simply waited. He suddenly held me in a headlock and slammed me to the ground. Come on Ivashkov, you know a way out of this headlock remember?

Pulling my hands back and past his shoulders I applied pressure on a certain point at the joint between the neck and the shoulders. Immediately his body responded with a spasm. I'd learned that pressure points were important even against Strigoi. It simply took repeated attacks and strength to make it work.

Curling my leg around his I flipped us over. We were up and standing again a moment later. Twirling I slammed my hand on a point on his back forcing him down to one knee, then using my fingers I located a sensitive spot behind one knee before applying pressure causing it to numb and buckle therefore becoming useless for the moment. He tried to grab me but I wrestled his hands away and slammed him to the floor. I struck his chest where his heart would be before he could react.

Our laboured breaths filled the silence of the room and pride surged when I noticed he was way more out of breath than I was. Hurray for me! Cheers erupted from the room and I removed myself from his body. "Hang on a sec and don't move for a moment." I warned him. I rolled him onto his back and struck a few points in a specific sequence.

"Wow, I can fell my limbs again." Drew smiled as he stood up.

"You're not that bad." I complimented. "I was under the impression that all Moroi sucked at fighting. Guess I was wrong. You guys too." I turned to the other three. "Do you want the painful way or the nice way of ridding the numbness?"

"Nice," the trio chimed. I stood behind them and repeated what I did to Drew.

"What about Nick?" Quinn asked.

"He already got the painful way. The shove in the chest got the nerves working again." I explained.

"It's hard to believe you're new here." Guardian Jenson commented. "I don't think I've see that skill before."

"It's a mixture of acupuncture, medical knowledge, understanding of the body and the nerves." I smiled. "Now I don't know about everyone else but I could so use some food."

"Alright, everyone dismissed!" the two guardians announced.

"Score! Food time!" I cheered. "Els let's go!"

"Boy did they work us hard." Els huffed.

"That wasn't that bad." I laughed.

"Oh don't worry it'll get worse. How the hell did you keep up with Drew Ozera? He's like the best out of all the novices. He even beats those in the year who are supposed to be graduating this year."

"Drew who?"

"Andrew-Blake Ozera." Wow I really should've known that. He was the kid who saw my escape all those years ago. Funny, I couldn't recall him ever being a serious fighter. He never paid attention in class or anything. Now that I thought back on it, there really weren't any other Moroi boys back then with hair like his. Glancing over my shoulder back at them, I noticed with a smile that his hair was still pretty much the same, perhaps a tiny bit longer but no drastic difference. In other words, it was as messy as it could get! I wonder what changed him to becoming a dedicated fighter. The skill he showed in that lesson spoke of thorough and highly intense training for years.

"Isn't Ozera like… one of the royal names?" I asked feigning ignorance.

"Yep, he's a royal alright." Els sighed dreamily. "So were the other three that you fought at the end. Daniel Zeklos, Jackson and Quinn Dragomir."

"Now that's a name I recognise! Weren't we talking about Lissa Dragomir in class or something?"

"Yep, the one who helped revive the knowledge of Spirit users." Els nodded. "I thought you were asleep."

"I can learn things even if I'm half asleep." I grinned.

"Impressive."

"Damn useful if you ask me."

"Els! Kai!" Roxy and Ingrid shouted.

"What's this about you beating Drew Ozera?" Roxy demanded practically shaking me by the shoulders.

"And Dan, Jackson and Quinn blindfolded!"

"Kai is quickly becoming the top fighter of the novices." Els beamed. "How did you get to be so fast anyway and how did you guys know?"

"There was a mass text." Roxy and Ingrid chimed.

"You really want to know how I got so fast?" I grinned. "I'll show you later when you come to collect me for dinner." I understood what Joe meant about the fish at lunch, it wasn't the nicest thing I've tasted at all. After that I had half an hour of break before my extra lesson. I took the weights down with me in my sports bag and I found him stretching as I walked in. "Here take the bag." I said holding it out. His eyes widened and his arms dropped a little at the weight of it.

"What the hell have you got in here?"

"Books." I rolled my eyes. "They're the weights I was talking about. I've been running with those ones for the past year. I'm about to move onto the next mass. I usually go up in fives or tens, it depends what I feel like doing. You can have those ones since I don't need them anymore."

"How do you pay for them? They can't be that cheap." I gave him a look at his stupid question. "Never mind, you have two jobs, one of which is well paid considering your popularity." Joe scoffed. "Reckon it'll take me a while to get used to these. Could you show me what you do?"

"Sure." I nodded. I strapped the weights to my ankles, wrists, shoulders and waist.

"Let's run a few laps to get you warmed up after lunch."

I shrugged and followed him. We made three laps around the field and he was impressed to see that I wasn't at all out of breath.

"No wonder you're so damn fast." Joe commented. "Your stew was amazing by the way. Maria is really impressed with you."

"She is?" I beamed. "She hasn't changed at all, still as motherly as ever. And is it possible that she's grown even more beautiful over the years?"

"Well, maybe it's because you've been away for so long?" Joe suggested.

"Maybe… There's definitely some logic to that." I grinned. "If we're going to spar today, you better hope you don't get hit because it'll hurt like hell in the morning."

"Oh I won't get hit." Joe said confidently causing my pride to twitch to rise up to the challenge and prove him wrong. To say I could get competitive would be an understatement. I felt challenged so easily I always ended up getting into fights. I'd been told far too many times that I was easily provoked.

After an hour we were both panting and out of breath. We were lying on the mats and staring at the ceiling to calm our breathing down. "Jesus girl did you magically improve over lunch break or something? How did you land so many hits? I'm going to have so many bruises."

"Back in class I wasn't planning on landing any more hits than necessary. I was only aiming for the fatal points and avoided hitting them in general. If I wanted to, I could've beaten them to a pulp to get the fatal point I reckon but I felt like giving myself that challenge. Using violence is easier than tactic but I wanted to improve my tactics. That was another reason why I decided to stay here instead of throwing too big of a fuss." I panted. "Dude I hurt."

"So do I. I reckon I'm hurt more than you are," he laughed.

"And I have learning to do for Brooks." I groaned. "I hate vampire 101!"

"But you need it to graduate."

"I used to think European history was boring. Vampire history is even worse."

"I take it that's what Mark is teaching at the moment."

"Yeah." I nodded. "And Joey, if it isn't too much to ask, can you not mention graduation again for at least another year? I mean, it isn't for another two years so…"

"It's alright. I get it little Kai. I'll stop mentioning it. It's been getting under your skin right?" Joe asked softly.

"Just a little. I mean, it's not the promise mark that saves lives, it's the strength and skill the person possesses. How is knowing the history of the vampire community going to help?"

"It's all to do with learning about their successes and failures. Not everyone gets mentioned Kai and while it may seem boring, these people and events were mentioned because it's significant in some way. It stops people from making the same mistakes. Things which have been especially recorded have value and therefore shouldn't be lost through time. It's like the element of Spirit. Because the number of Spirit users diminished, the element became a fairytale, a legend rather than a true possibility. These people are recorded because they've done incredible things whether they be wicked or good. History can sometimes help improve the world and our society. It may be a boring process to learn it but it is valuable in the end." Joe explained.

"Wow… that was one hell of an impressive speech." I marvelled. "But I do understand your point and I suppose you're right. If a horrendous error was made a long time ago and knowledge of it was lost, it would be likely for people to repeat the same mistake."

"So as horrendous and tedious as the lessons may be, it is useful to learn it. It definitely wouldn't hurt."

"Well it will if I end up arguing with Brooks but it will benefit me in the end." I accepted. "Maybe I'll be a good student for once and actually read what the teacher says."

"Don't you normally?"

"Of course not! Don't joke. I just cram the information in five minutes before by asking the geeks of the school or the smart people." I said with a horrified expression. "Me? Reading text books? I don't think so. Things just fly right over my head Joey."

"Wow, somehow I'm not surprised."

"Hey, I'm a teenager, cut me some slack. I can fight well, that's good enough for me."

"What about strategies?"

"Solo wise I'm good but I've never commanded a team for an attack for anything. I can do sports strategies though. I can normally work out the weaknesses of my opponent pretty quickly too."

"In a fight that's always useful."

"It's extremely handy in anything really." I shrugged.

"So if you have a specialty with locating weaknesses, what're mine?"

"Although you anticipate well, your body's commands are a little slower than your brain. Your right arm isn't as strong as your left and there's a fraction of delay between each attack even if you managed to plot an onslaught of attacks. Also, the worst thing is your eyes. As much as I love their green colour, they give away everything. You fake brilliantly with your body but you have small habits that give things away." I listed as I analysed the fight in my mind. "Oh and you're not very good at moving your hips and making small bends or tilts to avoid an attack. Some of the attacks I made, you moved more than you really needed to and those are the things I managed to gather from that one fight. Have you never learned to lie with the eyes? To deceive someone?"

"You managed to find out all of that in one fight? Bloody hell Kai how did you become so observant?"

"By being an anti-social but still keeping up with things as a kid and living on my own since the incident and working with crowds." I grinned. "So did I get them right?"

"I didn't even know about a couple of them. I'll have to ask Crispin about that and see if he noticed?"

"Who's Crispin?"

"That's Guardian Jenson. He transferred here two years ago." Joe informed me.

"Are there a lot of new guardians here?"

"No."

"Please tell me that Jules is still the head of the guardians here."

"She is and I'm sure you'll be pleased to know Rosette is still the nurse and over seer of the infirmary." Joe grinned.

"Pfft, I shouldn't be going in that direction nearly as often as I used to."

"I remember you having your own room," he teased.

"What can I say? I've been trained to the max pretty much since I was born." I shrugged.

"That is so true." Joe laughed. "So what are you reading up on?"

"Who knows?" I shrugged. "I only know it's chapters one and two."

"Straight from the beginning huh?"

"Unfortunately." I sighed. "So since we're obviously done, can I go?"

"No, I want to fight you without the weights; I want to see the difference."

"Well since I'm leaving them here fine. We'd better be quick though. I told the others to come find me here before dinner." I told him.

"Let's see how you do then." Joe nodded. I slipped off the weights and flexed my shoulders. After half an hour Joe was decked on the floor for the fifth time and I was leaning over him with concern. "Wow those weights really are something and you're not even giving your all into this fight. Maybe I should get Crispin to join our training sessions. As a solo and team fighter you're good but with both Crispin and I attacking and training you, we're bound to stretch your skills and push you to the limit."

"Okay, that's fine. Judging from his stares from the lesson earlier, I think he'd like that." Then I turned around and stared at the doors of the gym. "And guys you don't have to hide." I laughed.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

From behind the door the three girls walked out with guilty smiles. I'd noticed them around fifteen minutes ago in the middle of my spar against Joe.

"How did you know we were there even though you were fighting Guardian Maxwell?" The way they were peering so intently through the small windows in the door made it hard for me not to have noticed it. They were certainly not as discreet as they had perhaps hoped but I refrained from telling them that.

"You beat him without breaking a sweat…"

"Are those the things that increased your strength and speed?"

"No wonder you beat Drew Ozera."

"And I'm hungry so let's go." I urged as I towed them out of the training room. From the number of questions they seemed to have, we could be in the training room for forever! "See you later Guardian Maxwell."

"I'll see you in class tomorrow Valentine." Joe nodded with a professional glance to which I returned with an easy going grin.

"You guys are a bit early." I commented casually.

"We thought you might want us to get you early so you could have a shower." Roxy smiled. "We didn't expect you to do so well against a teacher. We figured you'd be absolutely exhausted and in need of a little rest before dinner."

"I'm not too bad." I shrugged. "Didn't sweat much."

"We can just about manage to land hits on Maxwell but it's hard. You beat him seemingly without breaking a sweat." Els commented. "How are you not dead on the mat?"

"Some of us can't even land a hit." Ingrid grimaced as she seemed to recall something unpleasant.

"You have difficulties in combat class?" I asked as I turned to face her while we walked.

"A little. I end up in the infirmary pretty much all the time." Ingrid sighed. "It's absolutely ridiculous! They even have a room set up for me, it's like they're waiting for me to go back some time soon. Of course they're right, I reckon to go there at least once a week."

"Would you like some help? I could partner up with you tomorrow and give you some tips?" I offered with a small smile. I remembered the days when I used to be the one with the personal room at the clinic because of how hard my training was with my parents. And then there were also the occasional times when my magic went way out of hand and I ended up injuring myself somehow. One way or another, I used to end up at the clinic a lot more than most other students in any of the year groups. "We've got a joint session tomorrow right?"

"You'd do that?" Ingrid asked with sparkling eyes.

"Of course!" I told her. There was no reason for me not to. In the process of helping her, I could probably work out some other various techniques that would be suitable for anyone under almost any circumstance.

"We have those joint lesions three times a week. Saturday's are the worst." Roxy grimaced.

"Wait… I thought you said we have no lessons on Saturdays!" I squealed in shock.

"No, we had nothing that particular Saturday. We get that break once a month." Els explained. "Maybe we should've been more specific…"

"Ya think?" I scoffed. "Well anyway, I'll pair up with you tomorrow Ingrid and see what you can do."

"Thank you so much Kai!" she screamed as she hugged me. Walking through the dining hall was worse than that first breakfast had been a couple of days ago. Everyone turned to inspect me. Taking a small glance around I noticed some of the seniors were staring and grimaced.

"Why are people staring?" I whispered.

"My guess is, word got around the whole school that you beat Ozera. Seriously that's a total achievement." Els told me.

"Thing is Kai, we should've explained the social standing around here. Those four Royals, they're not just royalty by name among the students. They excel in pretty much everything. They manage the perfect balance between school and mucking around. Those four have been together since… well pretty much since forever due to their parents. Lots of people respect those four and anything that happens to them, pretty much everyone will know; especially if it's to do with fighting. Those four are like the guardian prodigies or something. They're even stronger if they're allowed to use magic." Roxy explained with a hushed tone when we reached an empty table.

"Well anyone would be considerably stronger with magic." I scoffed. "So they're staring because?"

"You beat all four of them in less than fifteen minutes. Beating the Dragomir twins would've been gossip enough, but beating Ozera after fighting the Dragomirs is major stuff. You're a new kid, beating Zeklos would've been surprising though perhaps not as shocking. You practically beat them consecutively with the twins making the fight with Zeklos even harder. Everyone will probably be thinking you cheated somehow." Els said.

"Wow, basically I should prepare for rumours to be flying around." I grumbled. "That's such a pain in the ass. And here I was hoping to keep a relatively low profile."

"That's what happens." Ingrid shrugged. "It may or may not die down."

"Well it better." I rolled my eyes. "Being stared at by vampires is quite creepy." I cast a glance around the room and everyone still stared disregarding the fact that I knew. I groaned as I poked my food around the plate and tried to ignore the stares. "Maybe I should've pretended to be crap and lose."

"Really?" they all stared at me expectantly.

"Okay maybe not." I sighed.

"I thought you might be one with the pride." Els grinned. "You wouldn't have been able to fake it."

"Probably not. You're right." I nodded. It was true though. Although I may not have used my full strength and abilities during my fight with the Moroi royals, I sure as hell wasn't taking it that easy on them either. I was surprised by how skilled they actually were. I didn't realise that there had been so many Moroi who took the training seriously enough to rival a dhampir in training without the use of magic. I knew for sure that even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to fake a defeat, not with the way that they were fighting me. It naturally pushed me into using my instincts and my reflexes seemed to naturally kick in and so faking wasn't an option.

Looking around again I noticed that none of the jocks were around. Either they were avoiding me or they somehow knew what was for dinner. Just looking at the plate made my stomach flip in distaste. I shoved it away and sighed.

A couple of minutes later the whispering began.

"How did SHE beat them? I bet she cheated. There's no way a new kid could've beaten Dan let alone blindfolded. I mean she has extra classes for crying out loud. There's just no way." I heard someone whisper. My pride twitched and I tapped impatiently on the table. The other three stared at me and cast me a sympathetic glance, obviously having heard what was said.

"I mean seriously, just look at her, she's just average." My tapping grew a fraction heavier.

"The teachers probably just pity her for being new. I heard that she's just an orphan!"

"I heard her mum is a bloodwhore."

"I heard - " I slammed my hand on the table as I stood up and purposely let the chair scrap against the floor creating a wretched scratching noise. Everyone grew silent and I noticed the Guardian on duty watch the scene warily as though waiting for me to snap.

I took a few deep breaths before finding my voice. "Sorry, I'll see you guys at the dorms later." I told my friends stiffly before storming out at a walking pace. The whispers remained at bay and everyone stared as I walked past them.

The rage coursed through my limbs and as soon as the doors closed I sprinted to a training area which was in the forest. It was the one I used to run to when I was a kid back then and relief surged through me when I saw it was still the same as before. I grabbed the leather gloves from my pocket and pulled them on before jumping up to grab onto a branch fairly high up I swung onto the branch and randomly flipped from tree to tree. I spent the next hour letting off steam and by the time I was done I was panting. Sitting up against the trunk of a tree, I stared up at the stars until my stomach rumbled in hunger and I headed to the H.E. classroom to make some food. I hastily whipped something up and took it back outside to eat. I sat on a tree as I stared up at the sky while I ate slowly, basking in the cool breeze of the early hours of the morning.

"So you're the source of the tantalising scent," a voice chuckled and I caught the hand as it reached for my food.

"Get your own Ozera." I smirked glancing up at him. He was one branch higher than I was and he was eyeing my food with a hungry gaze.

"Aw don't be mean Valentine, just one bite?" he persisted as he jumped down and sat on the branch in front of me. We were lucky some of the branches were thick and sturdy, especially the one that we were on. I sure as hell didn't need the branch breaking while I ate.

"No, you want something to eat? Cook your own."

"I'd rather eat school food than my own cooking," he scoffed.

"Is the school prodigy actually incapable of something?" I teased. "Alright fine, I made more than I planned to anyway."

He began picking at the food on my plate instantly as soon as he had my consent and we were quiet for a few moments as we both ate.

"So how come you're not with your newfound gang?"

"Gang?" I stared at him in confusion before I realised what he must've meant. "Oh you mean Roxy, Els and Ingrid. You can't classify that as a gang unless we start bashing up the school." I laughed. "You can't exactly call your posy a gang either."

"Well then how would you classify us?" he arched his brows.

"The Jocks." I stated without hesitation.

"And your group?"

"Um… I'm not sure, I'll get back to you on that." I smirked. "So why's a jock talking to little old me?"

"You're hardly little or old." Drew scoffed. "Considering you beat me, you're going to be the topic of conversation for at least a week. How'd you get so good anyway? You weren't even using half your strength today were you? You'd barely broken a sweat."

"You didn't have to put yourself down so much. As for your question, I've been training hard since I was tiny. If you had been allowed to use magic I'd be torched in no time. I mean really, how could I fight against flames fireboy?"

"How did you know I was a fire user?"

"You're quite well known in this school so I had information about you guys shoved into my head during the tutorial about this school."

"As for your question, you fight by dodging."

"Have you ever tried anticipating the direction or move of an element? You could wrap me up in it and there'd be no way out without help." I scoffed. "So why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same question. This is where I normally head to if I need to cool my head."

"I was wondering around trying to cool my head and I found this place." Well that was a lie but he didn't need to know that. If I'd told him that I was already familiar with the grounds, he'd be suspicious for sure. He seemed like the observant type somehow, if I wasn't careful, he'd catch me out on my great lie sooner than anybody else. And I wasn't sure whether it would be a good idea for a major royal such as him to know that the Ivashkov line wasn't actually as gone as the world had thought. I wasn't sure what he could possibly do even if he did find out about it, but I wasn't desperate to find out either. It was better to put up my guard rather than to slip up.

"Why'd you need to cool your head?"

"Right back at ya." I smirked.

"I asked first."

"Who's the loser of the fight?"

We tried to stare each other down for a moment before he smirked. "Been a while since someone had the guts to keep up with me the way you do, especially since you're a girl."

"Not my fault if I'm not a sheep."

"A sheep?"

"Someone who follows the crowd simply because they're docile." I stated. "And what does being a girl have anything to do with keeping up with you?"

"Most girls can't form a coherent sentence around me let alone argue with me."

"What does that have to do with me though?" I asked dumbly. I really couldn't see why my gender would've affected my ability to back chat him. It didn't make any sense.

"You really are intriguing aren't you?"

"Is that meant to be a compliment?"

"Perhaps."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"You don't give up do you?"

"No. Do you?"

"No."

"Well then I guess that makes the two of us." I smirked. "Now answer the question jerk. What could've gotten your pants tied so tight that you needed a breath of fresh air? You seem like the type to get whatever they want."

"Do you know the meaning of the phrase: 'Mind your own business?'" he asked with a light voice but I could sense the frost in his tone.

He must've been the quiet type of person when it came to what he really thought. I realised that he was probably one of those popular people whom everyone adored but never understood or tried to get to know. Perhaps being popular had its draw backs too. Like having to remain the way people liked you for example. I couldn't imagine trying to keep up with all the hassle. I certainly never bothered with such a thing back at High School. Everyone just went along with my personality and those who tried to take advantage of me always learned immediately after that it was a foolish idea and after some demonstrations were made, no one tried to bully me again. Besides, my head would probably explode from the stress of trying to be the way people expected me to be. I suddenly found myself wondering what type of secrets this particular guy held.

"I'm nosy. Sue me. Now spill."

"Want to tell me why you're out here when you should spend your time socialising?"

"I want to avoid getting detention on the first proper day." I smiled tightly.

"Something happen?"

"Like I've already said, you're quite popular at this school and I'm the new kid who beat you; think about it."

"Rumours already?"

"They can bitch about me but talking about my parents is stepping way over the line." I nearly growled. If any of them had known who they had been unknowingly talking about I had no doubt they'd all be kicking themselves by now. However, even if they didn't know who my parents were, it still didn't give them the right to talk about them that way. Calling my mum a bloodwhore was just plain out of line.

"They were bitching about your parents? Ouch."

"You're lucky you don't have to go through that shit."

"Quite," he nodded in agreement. "They wouldn't dare to."

"So now that I've told you why I'm here, your turn."

"You don't give up do you?"

"Not a chance."

He gave a defeated sigh and gave me a meaningful glance. Our eyes locked and for a moment I forgot how to breathe. His eyes were incredible and absolutely stunning in the moonlight. The blue of his eyes shone with a gleam and for a moment I thought that he saw right through me. For a moment I understood why people respected him.

He wasn't a typical jock; he understood people and I knew at that moment that although he liked his popularity, he didn't crave it like most others did. He was just one of those charismatic people who captured it without effort.

We remained staring at one another for a while before I started feeling flustered and broke eye contact first. It was the first time for me to be the one breaking eye contact with a guy. But then again, Drew Ozera was no ordinary guy. He was a grandson of Lissa Dragomir and Christian Ozera. I couldn't remember clearly the family relationships or how things worked but I vaguely remembered that Lissa Dragomir and Christian Ozera had a couple of children and by some agreement between the two parents they decided that a couple of the kids would go with the Dragomir name in order to sustain the royal line while a couple of the others went with the Ozera name. So by default, Drew Ozera was definitely blood related cousins with the Dragomir twins. I couldn't really remember how many kids they had exactly or how many blood related cousins this guy had. The point was, if he had half the spunk Christian Ozera had, he was definitely trouble.

"It might not seem like it but there are some crude jokes that seem to spill from Nick's mouth that I don't want to hear. I'd rather not hear about his sexual analysis of people." Drew said with a stiff voice.

"So the jock group is actually divided. You being one leader; O'Connor being the other. He's the leader of the jackasses whereas you're the leader of the Elite." I stated simply having worked out the structure of their group. "It works."

Now it all seemed to make better sense. The royals or better known as the Elite now were only associated with the likes of Nick because there was simply the general group formed up of all those Moroi who attended training classes. I'd found it odd that someone like Drew Ozera was sitting on the same table as Nick. I'd felt from the start that he seemed better than that and had been surprised when I saw him sitting on the same table.

But now that I thought back on it, he didn't participate in any of Nick's conversations at the table either. None of the four royals did. Perhaps Nick was going to find that he wasn't as popular as he liked to have thought.

"And you're the leader of your group."

"Hardly. How could I be the leader if I just got accepted by the other three?" I scoffed. "And me being nosy again, what were elite Moroi punks doing in San Francisco?"

"It was Dan's birthday, that's another reason why he was the main one to get drunk. We told him not to drink so much since we've always known that he was lightweight." Drew sighed.

"Man, to get attacked by Strigoi on a birthday… that must've sucked." I grimaced. "His seventeenth, right?"

"Yes."

"At least no one was seriously injured, maybe a little thrown about but that's it."

"But his pride got hurt. He didn't even do anything, he just passed out from the liquor and Jackson got knocked away before he could do anything. Fighting the real deal is nothing compared to the training we get in this place."

"I know." I muttered not expecting him to hear it but considering how the night was so quiet and he was so close, I should've known that he'd catch it.

"How are you so experienced? Learning combat since you were tiny couldn't possibly have prepared you for something like that."

"Get your nose out of business that doesn't concern you before you get too deep and regret it Ozera." I said bitterly.

"I think you can risk calling me Drew."

"Nah, too much hassle, Ozera sounds better." I lied. I didn't want to call him Drew because it somehow seemed too intimate and considering how he was deemed as a god at this school, calling him Drew seemed to be something that would cause even more rumours and disruption to my life.

He gave me an amused grin before shrugging. "Last question: why did you have silver stakes?"

"It wasn't the first time I'd encountered them." I stated simply.

"When was your first time?"

"I thought the question before was the last one."

"Bad habit, are you going to answer?"

"Don't see why I should." I smirked.

"So you've got a low down about me huh?"

"Pretty much, I know that you're a fire specialist, an academic and combat prodigy, a royal and most people here respect you."

"That all?"

"Anything else I should know about?"

"Do you want to know anything else?"

"I dunno, you tell me." I fired back.

I had no idea where this was going. Was he simply trying to make me uncomfortable and find out my secrets or did he genuinely want to know about me. I'd dealt with jocks before and more often than not I knew that it was better to withhold more personal information rather than share it. Sharing secrets required trust and I definitely didn't know Drew Ozera well enough to trust him with anything personal. "I'd better get going; if I'm caught with you any time soon there'll be hell to pay for especially among the girls. Since I cooked, you're in charge of clear up." I said cheekily as I gave him my empty plate and cutlery.

"Try not to walk into any trees on the way back," he teased.

"I do not walk into trees." I huffed and stomped off. Who knew that I would be having a conversation with the school god on the first day? Life at this school was definitely going to get interesting. That was for sure.

9


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Kai! Are you alright? That must've been horrible to endure. It was disgusting to hear about. The way they talk about people just for gossip." Els frowned.

"It's disrespectful. They're just pissed that they couldn't get close to Drew Ozera the way you could." Roxy scoffed.

"If I was you I would've beaten them. But since I'm not, so I can't." Ingrid pouted.

"Those guys aren't worth half my time." I waved nonchalantly. "Besides, I'd rather not get detention on my first proper day at this school. I should at least attempt to make Guardian Maxwell's job manageable."

"I bet you could've taken them all on. That would've put them in line for sure." Ingrid huffed.

"It's because I'm new. It's alright though, I'll deal somehow." I shrugged. Although I said that, I had no idea how I was going to put up with it. It was no doubt only going to get worse. "And besides, if I took them all on, they'll all be missing out on class tomorrow. Personally I think of that as being a blessing rather than punishment." I smirked. "Seriously, I've never met royalty before so I don't know how to behave so I'm sorry if I cause problems for you guys since you're hanging out with me and all."

"We hang out with you because of that sassy attitude of yours." Els grinned.

"We need more people like you around here to put those bitches in line. If we weren't around then they would practically be ruling the school." Roxy rolled her eyes.

"And we cannot allow that!" Ingrid giggled.

"Imagine the nightmare that would ensue under their reign!" Els gasped in feigned terror.

"They would surely have the men as their slaves." Ingrid agreed.

"And have people like us who don't take their crap do all the dirty work like clear up duty or something…" Roxy shuddered.

"Okay, they aren't in charge and they're never going to be in charge so let's not try to imagine the horrors of it. Just the idea of having them in charge makes my blood boil in revulsion." I grumbled. "So I'm curious, just how bad did those rumours get during dinner? I want to know how far they can get."

"I'm not really sure what you consider to be bad, but they were thinking that you were leaving early to hook up with a guy." Roxy rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Specifically Nick." Ingrid added.

"It seems as though he has his eyes on you Kai." Els frowned. "Be careful with him Kai, he has a lot of people he can bribe around here."

"If he wants to mess with me he's welcome to try, but he's going to find that when a guy like him plays with fire, they get burned." I smirked.

"A guy like him?" the three of them questioned.

"Someone who has a much larger bark than bite. So what if he has people he can bribe? It is those people who are the weakest; it means that if the people he could bribe don't obey him, he'd be practically defenceless." I shrugged. "But there's no point worrying about these kinds of things because this is just the way I am and I can't change it just because some prick seems to find me entertaining."

"Pretty colourful language you have going there." Ingrid smiled shyly.

"Sorry, bad habit. This is what happens if you spend too much time on the soccer field."

"Oh yeah! You didn't tell us that much about it." Els pointed out. "You mentioned that you had a team right?"

"Yeah, I was the captain of the soccer team. Man this school has some major bad timing! Why couldn't they have decided to find me in two weeks' time or something? This is so unfair."

"Why?" Roxy frowned.

"There's a really important tournament final coming up and we're up against an old rival. They've been trying to beat us for the past three years and they've always failed. They're strong and smart guys when it comes to the field and stuff but that other school is a really tough opponent. I just wish that I could be there to support them." I sighed.

"I can't really understand it since I've been here pretty much all my life but from the sounds of things that sounds really unlucky." Roxy patted my shoulder sympathetically.

"Hopefully I'll be able to catch them on TV though. This year the finals is going on live." I grinned excitedly. "I'll just have to make sure I drink tonnes of caffeine to get me through the day and night."

"Hm… sounds interesting, maybe we'll join you." Ingrid pondered aloud. "If you don't mind of course!"

"Why would I mind? I could explain everything while we watch the game." I smiled. "Somehow you three don't seem like the types to understand soccer very well."

"All you do is kick the ball and score it without giving the opposition possession of the ball right? What's so hard about that?" Els frowned.

"There's a lot more going on than just that." I sighed knowing that my predicament was true. "There's also brainwork going on behind the scenes, knowing who to pass to at what types of critical moments, analysing the opponent's weaknesses and knowing how to use it against them, and it takes a lot more skill than most people realise to tackle correctly and affectively at the same time."

The three stared at me for a moment before they all burst into laughter. "You really love the sport don't you?" Els beamed smacking my back playfully.

"You bet." I grinned sheepishly. "So about that movie you guys mentioned earlier…"

"Of right!" Ingrid smacked her forehead and turned on the TV. The film: Inception came on the screen and I squealed in delight.

"I love this film!"

"Well we thought that it might be your type of thing and it just so happens that we like this kind of film as well so it's a win: win situation." Roxy laughed and laid her head on my stomach.

The next day was rather shocking even though I was expecting something to happen. I was on my way towards the dinning room with Ingrid, Roxy and Els when before any of us realised what was happening, I was suddenly soaked to the bone with water. The ice cold water that drenched me seemed to shoot up from the ground and fall on me from the ceiling. Either way, the ice cold water seemed to hit me from all directions. Not a single spot of me wasn't wet and absolutely frozen. I had to admit that it definitely wasn't a pleasant feeling at all!

"Ai that is cold!" I squealed in shock and tried to shake the water from my skin and clothes to no avail. "Oh no…" I groaned as I felt my nose tingling which meant that I was about to sneeze. I tried to hold it in but it was a failure and I gave almost ten small sneezes in succession. My friends just stared in shock before grins spread across all their faces and they burst out laughing. "Not a word, I know I have a weird sneeze." I grumbled in displeasure.

"I was expecting you to have some kind of a butch woman sneeze but that was so cute!" Ingrid beamed and looked like she was planning to hug me but then she took note of my wet clothes and thought better of it.

"This is when being a Moroi would be helpful." Roxy smiled sympathetically.

"Just be glad that it's not you guys who are sopping wet." I shivered. "I'm going dash back and change into warm clothes so that I don't get hypothermia. Safe something for me at breakfast, anything edible is fine and a cup of coffee too please."

"Better be quick or it'll go cold." Els nodded and gave me a shove back towards the dorms.

I ran back as quickly as I could possibly go with stiff wet clothes on. I took the stairs two at a time until I got back to my room and I threw all my wet clothes into the hamper and wrapped a towel around my body to dry off. I grabbed one of my many pairs of warm cotton trousers, a tank top, a long loose off-shoulder jumper and a change of underwear too since the water had completely soaked through. I towelled my hair until it was as dry as it was going to get before throwing my towel into the hamper as well. This time on the way to breakfast, instead of being attacked by water, I seemed to trip over no matter where I went and I had a feeling that it was an air specialist's fault this time. I collapsed at the table when I found where the others were sitting and I groaned.

"It's first thing in the morning and I'm already tired." I whined. "This is so unfair."

"Sorry Kai but since we're not Moroi, there's not much that we can help with," Roxy gave an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry about it, it just goes to show how petty some people can be. It's a totally wasteful way of using their power but it's their own decision if they want to abuse it." I shrugged and took a sip of my warm coffee and sighed in content. "Coffee is definitely a good kick-start to the morning."

"Kai you sound like some kind of a secretary who's just pulled an all nighter to finish off work." Ingrid teased.

"Secretary? Me? That's not possible!" I laughed. Then I suddenly remembered something that made the colour drain from my face.

"Kai?"

"I… I'm so dead!" I smacked my head on the table and groaned.

"What's wrong?"

"I forgot to do Brooks' homework that he set me yesterday! And I have to endure extra lessons with him as well today! What am I going to do?"

"Having some trouble there little miss prodigy?" an unfamiliar voice chuckled.

"Ah! Eric! Tom!" Ingrid piped up.

I turned around to see two rather tall boys walk up to us and sit on the left over seats at the table. I tilted my head in confusion and turned to Ingrid.

"Kai, meet Tom my older brother and Eric his best friend." Ingrid pointed at each boy in turn.

I glanced at the two boys and I could instantly tell that Tom was her sibling considering how they seemed to have matching eyes and similar hair. There were some features about their faces that showed that they were related. I was surprised by the somewhat intense gaze that the other boy Eric seemed to hold as he watched me. The way his eyes trailed over me suggested that he was inspecting me and I resisted the urge to arch a brow at him.

He suddenly reached out and I tensed instinctively and watched him warily. His large hand went to my hair and plucked out a twig with a leaf attached to it. "Did you have some trouble this morning? You look like you've been pushed through a bush," he asked with an amused smile.

"Well that wouldn't be too far from the truth." I scoffed.

"The four royal's fans right?"

"Huh?"

"They have their own fan club. I take it you were attacked by those fans this morning?"

"I don't know who attacked me this morning and I don't like falsely accusing people so I can't really say." I shrugged.

"A girl with a sense of justice, impressive. Most girls would be gossiping and bitching about who it _could_ be by now."

"Ah but Kai isn't just a normal girl, she's a female prodigy! It's about time we had one." Ingrid pointed out.

"What is it with you people calling me a prodigy? I'm hardly a prodigy." I grimaced. "Isn't that quite farfetched?"

"Not at all," she shook her head with a grin.

"Well I think it is, I'm nothing like Rose Hathaway after all." I insisted.

"Rose Hathaway was hot." Ingrid's brother Tom grinned. "And she's a legend to this day; the amount of different stories that is tied to that name is incredible."

"So Rose Hathaway is your type huh?" I teased. "Unfortunately for you, you're about a century late."

"She died not that long ago," he pointed out.

"Yes but she died an old lady, I didn't really think that you'd be chasing after someone half a century older than you." I laughed.

"Point taken," he grimaced.

"Yeah, Lissa Dragomir died surprisingly early, no one expected her to die in her 50s. My parents still talk about the shock it brought to the world sometimes." Els commented.

"It would be a shock if her death _didn't_ shock the world." I scoffed. "I mean, wasn't she the one who changed things for the better and helped push forward the whole idea about Moroi fighting alongside dhampirs again?"

"So you did pay attention to the lesson!" Els pointed at me.

"It seemed somewhat interesting. I mean, didn't the one before her allow the stupid the law about lowering the graduation age? What were those idiots thinking for doing such a thing?" I frowned.

"Apparently the Moroi were desperate. Dhampir numbers were getting smaller in comparison to the Moroi." Eric commented.

"That's only because you guys practically breed like rabbits." I rolled my eyes at him and he watched me curiously.

"You can tell the difference between Moroi and dhampir already? I thought you were a total newbie at this?" he asked with a somewhat flirtatious lilt in his voice.

"Instincts." I shrugged to avoid the topic. I couldn't say that I could tell because I grew up with them. That would mix up my made up story and complicate things too much. And it was partially true that it was instinctual because dhampirs could always tell between a dhampir and a Moroi. It was a way for us to sense each other or something ridiculous like that. I didn't really get why we'd ever need to be able to sense another dhampir but it was already built into our systems somehow so there was nothing I could do about it.

"So, you mentioned not having done your work for Brooks. It's only the second day Kylie, isn't that cutting it a little close?" Eric asked.

"I can't help it, I got a little side tracked last night with the movie and everything so I just sort of forgot…"

"What was your work?"

"Just to read chapters 1 and 2." I told him.

"Are you good at cramming things in at the last minute?"

"Oh hell yeah."

"Then remember this," he smirked and practically recited the whole two chapters. I remembered what I could and stared at him in awe.

"How did you do that?"

"I have a photographic memory it seems so I tend to remember anything I read or see for a very long time," he shrugged in a casual way.

"You are a life saver." I beamed at him and relaxed in my chair. "And feel free to just call me Kai."

"Nah, that's too much of a boy's name and you Kylie Valentine are anything but a boy," he winked at me. I noticed the other three girls stare at us expectantly so I turned to face them.

"What?"

"We'll tell you later," they chimed in perfect synch and I stared at them in confusion.

"Hey, there's a party on Saturday for anyone who wants to come. Are you guys interested?"

"A party?" Roxy asked.

"What's the occasion this time?" Els tilted her head to the side.

"No occasion, just a party." Tom shook his head.

"Well, if we're invited then we'll be there." Ingrid smiled.

"Really?" I blinked in surprise.

"Trust me, if we get into an upper year's party, it's definitely worth going." Els told me.

"So what do you say? Are you in?" Eric asked me and I thought about it for a moment.

"Why not? I'll need something to loosen me up by the end of the week." I nodded.

"Do you drink?"

"That is the most ridiculous question any has ever asked me." I smirked. "I'm the queen of drinking games."

"Oh really? Well I look forward to seeing the truth about that myself," he winked. "We should probably get going, lessons start soon and most people have already left."

"Thanks again for the help Eric."

"No problem, pleasure's mine," he smiled and gave her a small wave as he left with Tom.

"Oh my god Eric definitely has his eyes set on you Kai!" Ingrid squealed when she was sure that they were gone.

"Excuse me?" I asked in shock. "You're joking me right?"

"No way, Ingrid's totally right!" Roxy grinned.

"The way he was staring at you was like he really wanted you to go to that party." Els nodded in agreement.

"You guys are definitely exaggerating things." I told them stubbornly. "Let's just go to lessons before the teachers find a reason to murder me in my sleep."

"Now _you're_ exaggerating," they all rolled their eyes at me. The day seemed to flash by surprisingly quickly and as promised, during the combined training I paired up with Ingrid to see if I could give her any extra tips about what she was doing wrong. By the time my lesson with Brooks came, I was dreading it. Private one on one lessons with him was something that I would never want. He used to have it out for me and I didn't particularly like him either, so the feeling was mutual. I couldn't believe that out of all the teachers at this school, I was stuck with Brooks! It was the worst luck I could possibly have!

"You're late," he scowled as soon as I walked into the classroom and I paused in mid stride to glare at him. I took a deep breath and let it out to prevent the hurl of abuses that was on the tip of my tongue from spilling out. No doubt my swearing at him would no improve our relationship at all.

"Actually according to the clock just above you, I'm on time."

"You'll find that you're half a minute late."

"What? So you want me to start arriving five minutes early or something? Sorry but that's not going to happen." I told him stiffly.

"Being slightly early wouldn't kill you Valentine," he scoffed. "If we start early, I might even consider letting you out early."

"We both know that's never going to happen unless due to an emergency Guardian Brooks."

Unhappily I dumped my bag on the ground beside my seat and sat down before taking my books out.

"Just to let you know, I'm only going to be teacher you this session once a week."

"But I thought the timetable said that I had you for a teacher three times a week after class?" I frowned in confusion. However, on the inside, I was secretly jumping for joy!

"You have Vampire 101 three extra times a week yes, but I won't be your teacher for all of them. I don't have the time for it so think of the other two sessions as study groups or something because you'll be joined by Andrew Ozera and Daniel Zeklos. They're the top in the year for this class and they have the time so I've picked them as your teacher."

"You picked people from my own year to be my teacher?" I stared at him in disbelief. My mood dropped instantly at the thought of having Drew Ozera and Dan Zeklos as my teachers. If this ever got out, I'd never hear the end of it from their fan club!

"Considering how you don't even know some of the most basic information required, whether they are in your year or not does not matter. Either way they will know much more than you do."

Now I was caught in a deeper dilemma. What was worse? Having Brooks as my teacher for three extra lessons per week. Or having two of the royal punks as my teacher for two extra sessions a week? My mind must've been messed up, because I really couldn't tell which would be worse…

"Valentine!" Brooks slammed his hand down on the table in front of me causing me to jump. "If you want to survive at this school then you'll have to stop zoning out."

"Got it Guardian Brooks." I nodded absentmindedly.

The next hour that went by was probably the most boring and infuriating time of my life. It certainly didn't help that he was treating me as though I was some kind of an idiot and went over everything about three times to make sure I understood it. It was annoying because I couldn't tell him that I knew half the stuff about what he was nattering on about. I had to pretend that I had grown up in a completely human environment with barely any knowledge of the vampire world. Sometimes, life really was a bitch.

The hour that went by was definitely a complete waste of my time. There wasn't anything that Brooks mentioned that I didn't know already. The stuff that he mentioned really was elementary and I could still remember from my time here at the Academy when I grew up here. Most of the time, I focused on the clock in the classroom and counted down the minutes that I still had in that godforsaken lesson. I never thought the time would come when he would tell me to pack up my books.

"See you around Guardian Brooks." I told him relatively politely before dashing out of the classroom. In truth, I honestly couldn't have cared less if I saw him again for the next week! The boring lesson that I just had was enough to scar me for life. In my haste of running down the hall I practically crashed into someone. "Sorry," I apologised immediately before I even looked up.

"Desperate to go somewhere Valentine?" a voice chuckled that I vaguely recognised. Glancing up I saw the guardian who took our training yesterday.

"Guardian Jenson right?" I asked.

"Yep," he grinned surprisingly boyishly. I couldn't help but smile at that. "Why the rush?"

"I don't like Vampire 101 lessons." I told him.

"Ah Joe did mention something about you needing extra lessons in other subjects," he commented.

"Oh? Did he also mention how you might be roped into my extra training sessions?" I grinned cheekily.

"He did mention that as well," he laughed. "I look forward to seeing what you're like without holding back."

"Hm… I don't think even I know the answer to that." I frowned when I tried to think about it. It had been a while since I had to push myself through a difficult situation.

"Well hopefully we'll find that out soon so we can see what you're weakest points are and what we could do to compensate them."

"You're right, maybe I'll try going all out tomorrow and see what happens."

"You? Going all out? We're going to need Dr Salvatore to make sure none of us die by accident," he joked in good humour and I had to laugh at that.

"I doubt I'm capable of doing that against two skilled guardians attacking me at the same time."

"That's something we won't know until we try it out," he shrugged. "I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Well, I guess I should be proud that a full guardian such as yourself considers me capable of rendering either you or Guardian Maxwell unconscious." I winked. "Do you usually overestimate your students?"

"It has happened a couple of times," he nodded. "But I don't think this is one of them. I reckon that if you actually tried, you could accomplish such a thing."

"Guardian Maxwell wasn't kidding when he said that you were observant." I smiled.

"Besides, sometimes, it is better to overestimate and be disappointed afterwards than underestimate and be sorry for the mistake later." There was something in his voice that seemed to undermine his normal carefree tone. It was as though he was speaking from an past experience and from the saddened gleam that flashed across his eyes, I had a feeling that the mistake he spoke of had cost him something important.

"You're right about that." I nodded grimly and remembered the first time I underestimated my own magic. The accident cost us an entire house because I burned it to the ground due to my lack of control. From then on, I rarely ever took my bracelet off. Very rarely.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked with a somewhat soothing tone that seemed to persuade me to want to tell him but I shook my head. It wasn't a particularly pleasant memory for me to recall so I pushed it back into the back of my mind instead.

"Nah, it's nothing much really. And I'm sure my stories won't be as worth telling as yours."

"A guardian's tales aren't always as interesting as you all seem to make it sound."

I shrugged in nonchalance. "I don't actually know what they're like considering I've never heard one. Maybe I'll convince you or Guardian Maxwell to tell one sometime."

"Ah I see her! Kai!" Ingrid waved her hands above her head in greeting when she saw me and a moment later I saw Els and Roxy join her from around the corner.

"Looks like I'm being called for Guardian Jenson." I laughed and waved back at her. "I'll see you in training."

"I look forward to seeing you're capabilities Valentine," he nodded and walked off while I headed over to the girls.

"What was that about?" Els asked curiously.

"I bumped into him while running out of Brooks' lesson and we just talked for a little about training and stuff." I shrugged nonchalantly. "He's going to be joining Guardian Maxwell to stretch my skills or something."

"Oh wow… hey, what are you planning for Thursday?"

"What do you mean?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Thursdays are free in the morning, or in human schedule in the afternoon, there are no classes so we can do whatever we want including going into town!" Els jumped in excitement.

"I have nothing planned." I shook my head. "I didn't even realise that there were no classes on Thursdays. Except, I still seem to have bloody Vampire 101 after lunch period." I grumbled.

"Seriously?" the other three stared at me in disbelief so I showed them my timetable.

"That's so unfair!" Roxy protested.

"Tell me about it." I scoffed.

"I'm sure if we ask nicely the headmaster will let you off just one lesson and we can all head to the city together!" Els suggested.

"What would we do even if we go?" I frowned.

"Shopping!" they beamed with excitement.

I just stared at them for a moment and grumbled. Oh course that was what they had in mind. That's the only thing girls seemed to care about when it came to going to a mall. I sighed in resignation when I realised that there were some things that I wanted to buy to decorate my room a little to make it more personalised.

"I'll do the asking of the headmaster since I'm the one wanting to bail on my lesson. Have you three already gotten your permission?"

"Yep, got it in advance last week," they nodded.

"I'll go ask him now. How about I meet you guys back at the dorms?" I suggested.

"See you back at the dorms then." Roxy nodded and the three of them headed off as I made my way to Martin's office.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I knocked on his office door politely three times before waiting patiently.

"Come in," he called and I walked in casually. I noticed that he was preoccupied with a phone call so I simply sat on one of the chairs to wait. After around five minutes he finally hung up looking a little tired.

"Difficult caller?" I asked with concern.

"Yeah, far too many complaints," he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So how are you settling in so far Kai? I didn't expect to see you so soon."

"Don't worry Martin, I'm not here to complain." I laughed. "As for the settling in, well I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would. Some of the people here are really nice."

"I've heard from Joe that you seem to have gotten along with McCarthy, O'Reilly and French."

"They are really kind and accepting. They don't push for answers when I'm reluctant in answering and I really appreciate that." I smiled softly.

"You also seem to be more skilled than I could've possibly expected. Beating the four royal boys in one go is something I haven't heard of," he chuckled. "I'm sure they regret getting off on the wrong foot with you."

"Who knows." I shrugged with a grin.

"I also heard that you nearly punched O'Connor at breakfast the other day."

"Yeah…" I smiled sheepishly. "What can I say? My grudge has held for this many years."

"Good thing Joe stepped in. I would've hated to give you detention on the first day."

"Sorry, I would hate to put you in a difficult spot unless I had to." I smiled apologetically. "But hey, I managed to kick his ass in class so all is well for now until he decides to do something stupid again."

"Which I find highly probable," he grimaced. "He used to harass you quite often didn't he?"

"And alas that is why I hold a personal grudge against him." I smirked. "Not that he's realised that fact yet."

"Do you think he ever will?" he asked and I knew that there was a double meaning behind his question. The deeper question was whether anyone was going to find out that I was an Ivashkov. I stared back at him levelly and I was somewhat surprised by the heavy gaze he gave me. I thought carefully about it before shaking my head.

"I don't know Martin, I honestly don't know. Even I'm not stupid enough to think that I'll be able to get through to graduation without people realising or recognising me. No doubt as soon as Rosette or Aunty Jules see me, they'll know instantly who I am. Rosette will see the resemblance in my aura and well you know that barely anything slips past Aunty Jules' observation. The question will be how long until people find out, Martin, not if. Even I know that."

Martin studied me for a few minutes before he gave a regretful sigh. "I wish I had been there to watch you grow up. You have definitely changed for the better Kai. Back then you never would've said something like that aloud. You've certainly learned to think through worst case scenarios too it seems."

"Well living out on my own for so long definitely does something for my maturity. I couldn't afford to be naïve out there on my own. If I was, I wouldn't stand a chance against the world. I learned that school is kind of the same really. Even if you are naïve, don't show it, otherwise there will be plenty of people who would take advantage. And if you are naïve, grow tough enough to be able to overcome any obstacle."

Martin just sat there before he suddenly stood up and swept me up into a hug. I stood there frozen for a moment unsure of what to do before wrapping my arms around him. We simply held each other for a long moment and neither of us spoke. I didn't speak because I didn't know what was happening and he didn't speak because… well I guess he was pretty caught up in his own thoughts.

"Sorry that was probably a little careless of me," he smiled as he stepped back so that we were at arm's length.

"Don't worry about it." I shook my head. "What's up? You seem oddly sentimental at the moment."

"I just can't believe how much you've grown up. If you think I'm being sentimental, wait until some of the others realise your return. No doubt Juliet will give you the lecture of your life but she will most likely suffocate you first as will Rosette."

"I haven't grown all that much Martin, the little old me is still here… somewhere. I just hide it that's all. Like I said, I had to grow up with a tough front to battle away people who might try to take advantage of me."

"And I am so proud of you."

"You ain't seen nothing yet Martin, soon you might start hating me for all the troubles that I will no doubt cause around here."

"I will be proud of you nonetheless depending on what you do," he laughed.

"Well at this point, even I have no idea how much trouble I'll end up being." I shrugged with a cheeky grin.

"Considering who your parents were, I have no doubt that you'll cause trouble," he scoffed and ruffled my hair before moving back to sit in his chair so I sat back down in mine.

"So, I have a favour to ask."

"Ah so now we come down to it."

"It's nothing that major. It's just that the other girls want to go shopping and I was wondering if I could tag along."

"This is for Thursday right?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "It would mean missing one of my extra Vampire 101 lessons."

"I don't see why missing just one would do any harm. You probably know some of the things that Mark is going through with you right?"

"I am not going to go into a rant about how pointless the one hour I spent in that lesson was." I grumbled in annoyance. "It was one of the biggest wastes of my time! I mean seriously, some of the stuff even a bloody three year old would know!"

"So it really was that bad," he laughed. "It is your own fault for living under a façade of knowing nothing of our world."

"I know, that's why I'm so annoyed, because I know that in the end it is my own fault for choosing this." I huffed.

"Unfortunately everything has a down side in life."

"Unfortunately is right," I scoffed.

"You have my approval for going into the city. Do you have money?"

I just stared at him incredulously. "Did you seriously just ask that question?"

"Yes, it's a perfectly natural question for someone who is one of your guardians to ask," he said defensively.

"Martin, I had two jobs, one of which has pretty much guaranteed that I could live in luxury without effort for the rest of my life. To this day even though I may not be able to record any more albums because I'm at this school, money is still flooding into my account because of people buying my songs and other types of franchise." I stated with crossed arms.

This time it was his turn to stare at me and realisation slammed into him. "Right, you are the lead singer of a very popular band. I forgot about that. Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"The fact that you might never get to be with your band again."

"Yeah I miss it." I replied instantly and a flash of guilt crossed his expression.

"We really have torn you away from some important people to you haven't we?"

"You have." I nodded without hesitation. "But you've also brought me back to some equally important people here and I don't regret that. I think we both know that if I really tried, I could break out of here again."

"The scary thing is, I have to agree with you on that," he gave a troubled sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "If you would like, I could make some arrangements for certain Thursdays for some authorised absences so that you can work with your band."

"You can do that?" I screamed as excitement rushed through me.

"I'm the headmaster, of course I can," he chuckled. "I take your enthusiasm as a thorough 'yes'?"

"Of course I would love to continue working with the band!" I squealed and jumped up and down in glee. I knew that I probably looked completely comical hopping around like that and I most definitely would've looked like some small child but I just couldn't care because Martin's suggestion was one of the best things I'd ever heard in my life! "Oh my god, on behalf of my band and my manager and the company that I usually record with, thank you so much!"

I screamed again in utter joy and dashed around his desk to hug him tightly.

"I will call your manager and make some arrangements for this to work."

"I promise I will work extra hard in school! Thank you so much for this Martin!" I screamed again. "I'm so excited! There's a new song coming up as well! There's so much to do! I'm going to send Louise a text to say that her song will be accepted! Ah!"

"Now you're starting to resemble like a teenager," he chuckled and I think there was a dash of relief in his tones but I wasn't sure. I was too happy to know for sure.

"Thank you! You won't regret this!" I squealed again and then I noticed the time. "Call me if anything urgent happens. I better get going or I'll miss dinner. Ah! I love you Martin!" I jumped to hug him one last time.

"Love you too Kai," he laughed and watched with an amused smile as I ran out of his office and back to the dorms.

"Whoa, what's gotten you into such an amazing mood?" Els asked curiously when she opened the door. The other two instantly noticed my huge smile and I simply hugged all three of them.

"Don't worry about it; I just heard something really good from an old friend that's all." I shook my head. "Oh and I've got permission to go with your guys tomorrow by the way."

"That's great!" Ingrid beamed.

"Let's go to dinner, I'm really hungry." Roxy suggested and we all headed to dinner. Dinner was well… dinner. There was gossip, mostly about me since I was still the new kid and there was also some talk about the upcoming party on Saturday. It seemed that everyone was pretty hyped about it and I could understand why. From the little bits of gossip that I could make out and from Ingrid's source of information, they were sneaking in a lot of alcohol. I had already guessed that there would be some from the conversation during breakfast, but it seemed that quite a few boys were planning to challenge me to drinking contests in hopes of getting me drunk.

Everything seemed to be going fine. At least, that was until I fell asleep.

_I opened my eyes to see white. Everything around me seemed ridiculously white, almost blindingly white. Another thing that shocked me was the cold that bit into my skin. My teeth were chattering and there were goosebumps all over my body. At first it seemed silent. But when I struggled a little to listen more carefully, I could hear quite whispers of what sounded like shouting across the wind. Without another thought I took off running towards what I hoped was the right direction. _

_I ran as fast as I could possibly go in the knee thick snow and I realised that that was why I felt so cold. _

_I was mortified by what I found as the shouting became clearer. It wasn't just shouting anymore. There was screaming, howling, hissing, shouting, barking even. I dashed through the woods and arrived at a battle ground. Strigoi were everywhere as were Moroi and dhampirs and Guardians. _

_And there was blood._

_So so much blood._

_The blood stained the white sheet of snow and for a moment all I could do was stand transfixed in my spot and watch the massacre ahead of me. _

_It was clear that the Strigoi were winning. It seemed that no matter how many of those monsters the Guardians and dhampirs alike took down. More and more Strigoi just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Through fear and desperation I fought my way through the mass of Strigoi staking any that got in my way efficiently and even used my fire to help. _

_Getting towards the middle of it all I found my friends and family fighting for their lives and I dove in to join them without hesitation. I vaguely noticed that Dan and Quinn laid dead on the ground as well as Rosette and Brooks. Then one by one they each seemed to fall and there was nothing I could do about it through this fight._

"_No!" a scream of denial tore from my lips as my fire grew stronger and brought down more of the Strigoi._

"_You will watch this little princess. You will watch this before you yourself will join our side," one of the Strigoi hissed and smashed a fist to the back of my head with such brute force that almost knocked me unconscious. Almost, but not quite. _

_I could still see everything and although I forced my eyes closed so that I wouldn't have to, I had to because the bastard used compulsion to keep my eyes open and watching ahead._

"_Watch them die little princess. I want you to suffer. You will watch everything be taken away from you before your soul will become ours," he laughed mirthlessly. _

"_Stop it! Leave them alone!" I screamed and thrashed in his grasp as he held me up. "You can't kill them!"_

"_Oh but that's where you're wrong. I can." _

_With that I watched with tears streaming down my face as each of my friends died. And I watched Martin and Joe die in the same way my parents did. They died as they tried to wrench me away from the Strigoi holding me. _

_They died trying to protect me._

"_NO!" I screamed again but it was no use because they were gone. They were all gone._

"_And now it's your turn," he smiled maliciously and grabbed my shoulders roughly pulling me towards him as I struggled._

"_No!" I screamed one last time and then I was consumed by coldness._

I was jolted awake by the sudden coldness that splashed onto my face. I could feel the sting on my cheek as though someone had recently slapped me and I opened my eyes to stare at a pair of familiar warm brown eyes full of live and full of concern. Without another thought I threw myself into Joe's arms and cried.

"Shh," he soothed and stroked my back as I sobbed into his chest.

"They died… everyone died…" I cried and he hushed me again and wrapped his arms tighter around me.

"It's alright, we're all still here. It was just a dream, only a nightmare," he whispered.

I vaguely registered the footsteps that left the room and the gentle closing of my door. "It felt so real Joey… I seemed so real, the pain, the blood, the coldness… everything seemed so real!"

"Shh little sky, I'm still here aren't I? And all your friends are here too. It was just a dream," he whispered again into my hair and gently cradled me like a small child in his arms.

"I was so powerless against them. We were all so powerless. No matter how many we brought down, they just keep coming. There were so many of them…" I whispered with a broken voice.

"It was just a dream," he repeated.

Eventually I calmed down and the shaking finally stopped. I pushed myself away slightly so that we were at arm's length and he continued to watch me worriedly. "I'm alright now… I think."

"Are you sure? I could take you down to Rosette's to make sure you're not alone and have someone to talk to."

"No." I told him hastily. "I don't think I'm prepared to see them just yet."

"You'll have to eventually, Jules will certainly bump into you at some point and you'll have to visit the doctor's office eventually. It's only a matter of time," he told me sternly.

"I know, but please Joey, not now." I shook my head fervently.

"Okay, I won't push you if you're not ready."

"What's the time?" I asked with a weak voice.

"About an hour until normal wake up time for everyone."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. All I know is one moment I'm sleeping, the next I could hear your scream."

"Was it really loud? Do you think everyone heard?"

"I think everyone on this floor heard yeah," he nodded.

"Oh crud." I grumbled and he gazed at me sympathetically. "Who was in here just now? I heard someone walking away."

"Your friends rushed in here as soon as they realised that it was you who screamed and they were the ones who suggested splashing water on your face to wake you up. I tried shaking you but it didn't work very well," he informed me.

"Oh… I'm sorry for waking you guys up." I smiled sheepishly and I was surprised when he suddenly whacked the back of my head with a brief flash of anger across his eyes.

"You stupid girl! How could you even think about something like that at a time like this?" he muttered.

"But it is my fault."

"I will be there for you whenever you need me Kai, remember that. And I have a feeling that those friends of yours feel the same way. We don't care that we're losing out on a little sleep if someone important to us is in pain and you most certainly were in pain a few moments ago."

"I know you'll be there for me Joey and that's what worries me. I don't want anyone to die for me anymore, not ever again."

"You still think that Ray and Ami died because of you."

I nodded feebly. "It's still a little hard to not think that way."

I narrowly dodged his next hit and glared up at him. "You have to stop thinking that way alright Kai? None of it was your fault. You didn't let the Strigoi in, and they protected what was important to them just as you would recklessly throw your life in exchange for someone else's. You all think in the same way. _We_ all think in the same way so stop being irrational about this."

"I can't help it alright." I pouted childishly.

"Listen, I better go for now. If I stay in here any longer, talk is going to start and spread and I don't you need any more rumours at the moment. I will see you later Kai."

"Alright, thanks for being here for me Joey." I smiled and gave him a quick hug.

"Try not to think about things like that again alright?" he advised and kissed my forehead before leaving my room.

A few moments later, I was still sitting on the floor of my room when someone knocked on the door.

"Yuh-huh?" I called out. The door opened and Roxy, Els and Ingrid walked in hesitantly. "Sorry about that." I smiled apologetically.

"Not to worry." Els shook her head and held her hands out. I gave her a puzzled glance before realising that she intended to help me up from the floor. I took her hands gratefully since my legs were still a little shaky and we all sat on my bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ingrid asked nervously.

"You mean about why I screamed?" I asked and they nodded. "I had a nightmare that everyone I loved was being killed. Watching you all being killed in front of my eyes while I could do nothing tore me up inside and I hated it. I hated being so powerless. It killed me to watch as everyone died one by one."

"You had a nightmare about losing us?" Roxy asked gently. I nodded weakly when I couldn't seem to find my voice.

"And you tore yourself up about it?" Els stared at me in surprise and I nodded again.

"We love you Kai," the three of them chimed and wrapped me up in a hug.

"Well unfortunately for you Kai, you're stuck with us for a long time still." Ingrid grinned to break the tension. "None of us intend to die any time soon and we'll definitely be together until graduation."

"But what about after that? What if something happens to one of your charges?" I argued.

"Let's not think that far ahead." Ingrid grimaced. "All I want at the moment is to pass graduation first. I don't even want to know what would happen if I failed."

"You won't fail Ingrid, it's quite hard to fail isn't it?"

"Actually, it's really easy. If you're not strong enough and fail the final field test, you won't get assigned to a charge. Instead, depending on the academics, you'll have to either work in administration at Court or teach at a school." Ingrid shook her head with a defeated sigh.

"Well I'll just have to make sure that your skills are strong enough to pass your field test." I told her confidently.

"Hey Kai, is that picture on the wall of your soccer team?" Roxy asked curiously. I glanced up at the picture with a grin and nodded. I got off the bed and took it down to show it to them.

"You want to check out the guys don't you?" I smirked.

"You caught me," she giggled and so we went by the next hour until it was time to get dressed for breakfast by talking about the guys that were in the soccer team.

9


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Hey Kylie, are you sure you're feeling okay? You know you woke up pretty much everyone in the entire school with that lousy scream of yours?" one of the girls sneered. Probably a Moroi, I wasn't sure since I wasn't really looking. I was specifically ignoring them to avoid any unnecessary violent accidents.

_Deep breaths Kai, you don't want to get into a fight with people you could crush in less than five seconds._ I warned myself. I recited the mantra a few times before plastering a casual nonchalant smile on my face.

"Oh and Ingrid, hanging around her won't help you pass combat class, you know?" she taunted further and I saw Ingrid's expression change from a cheerful smile to discomfort. I realised that she probably wasn't bold enough to back chat the bitch but I sure as hell was.

"Sorry but, who are you?" I asked with a hand on my hip. I made sure to make my voice light and casual with a hint of spite. Truth be told, I had absolutely no idea. I couldn't really remember most people at this school. Sure there were a few exceptions such as jackass Nick O'Connor but that was because of my dislike towards him. But girls like her, girls who bitched none stop and stopped at almost nothing to gain popularity, I couldn't really remember. I vaguely remembered that she sat on the jock table.

"Aw the little new kid doesn't know who I am," she cooed. I didn't like the way she seemed to speak as though I was some sort of an elementary kid.

"Pfft that's not hard considering how you're pretty much a nobody." I scoffed, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Unlike you, people actually know who I am on day two, can't say the same for a flapping fish though. Unlike my popularity, you're just barely riding the waves and hanging the side lines of the main surfers, Miss Ironing Board."

Her face contorted in fury and the next moment I felt the air lifting beneath my feet throwing me up into the air. Just as I was thrown I grabbed a small grape off someone's tray beside where I was walking and threw it at her tall glass filled with juice. The grape hit at the perfect angle and with enough force that tipped the glass and her pristine white dress was ruined in that single moment. I landed softly on my feet having done a small flip in the air so that I wouldn't land face first. I guessed that she must've been an air user to have flipped me like that and it had backfired completely.

Her screech filled the dining hall as she jumped up and she glared at me.

"Well you sure could use the splash of colour. White washes you out considering your pale complexion and all. If you're going to try being fashionable, at least get it right." I smirked and gave her a cheeky wink.

I gave my three friends high fives as the rest of the dining room either sat there silently in awe or chanted 'fight' or they cheered.

"What the hell did you do?" she screeched as she stormed towards me.

"I don't know what you mean." I told her innocently.

"You did something! You made that glass tip!"

"I don't see how that's possible considering I'm at least four meters away from you. I don't think it's possible to have arms that long."

"I know you did something! Just admit it!"

"You should probably get changed or something because it's starting to look like someone pissed on it." I grimaced and turned my back on her so that I could go get some food from the counter.

I'd gotten about two paces away when I heard her shriek explode again through the dining hall and I heard the rapid footsteps heading towards me. I didn't even bother turning around, instead I just stepped ever so slightly to the side at the last second and discreetly stuck my foot out. She lost her balance, having tripped up on it, and fell towards the ground. She reached out, probably hoping to grab something and what she ended up grabbing was a tray of unfinished food and cold coffee. Someone had stood up at that moment holding up the tray and she'd just grabbed it.

Water dripped down her face and tomato sauce stained her clothes as well as coffee. Even I winced at the situation. This had certainly gotten farther than I had ever intended. I didn't realise she'd be stupid enough to try and attack me from behind and I certainly hadn't anticipated someone standing up with a tray.

"You will pay for this!" she hissed at me and stormed off.

I just stared after her as she left and I noticed the guardians standing on guard by the walls. They all seemed to hold amused gleams in their eyes and some even had small smiles on their faces. No doubt they probably knew who the girl I just pissed off was and from their smiles I guessed that they probably didn't like her much either.

"Sorry about your tray." I smiled apologetically. If I remembered rightly, her name was Mary and she was a dhampir novice like me.

"Don't worry about it; she deserves what she got after all the things she's said about you. How did you pull all of that off?" she marvelled. "It was you who tipped the glass right?"

I gave her a smart grin and helped pick up her plates and cups and put them on her tray. I lifted my arm and pointed at the bunch of grapes two tables back. "Sorry I stole one of your grapes."

"You threw a grape?" he stared at me in shock.

"Yep." I nodded. "I think it landed somewhere around there." I gestured at the table beside where the bitch had sat.

The ones who sat at the table I pointed at immediately looked around on the floor. "Found it!" one of the girls declared and held up a split grape. They all turned to me and I just gave them a shrug.

"Technically speaking I didn't touch her so no rules broken." I grinned.

"You just pissed off Marissa Badica and you're worried about breaking rules?" Ingrid stared at me in shock. "You are crazy Kai."

"Nope, I can handle her in any way I want, guardians are tougher." I shook my head.

"I can't believe you called her an ironing board to her face!" Els burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter after we sat down.

"It was the first insult that came to mind." I smiled sheepishly.

"Actually, telling her that she's pretty much a nobody was your first insult." Roxy pointed out.

"Marissa Badica is a royal so telling that she was a nobody is definitely an insult. She's not a high royal but she is a royal nonetheless." Els explained.

"Oh shit… I cocked it up real bad haven't I? What if she cries to her family or something and causes a scene? That'll make the Headmaster's life hell won't it? Oh crud." I smacked my forehead at my foolishness. I really did have to do something about my awful habit of insulting people I didn't like without a thought. It was going to get me in deep shit one of these days, especially in a school filled with royals.

"That's fine, her family won't be able to do much about it anyway. Marissa isn't that well known here so you didn't really damage her reputation at all. I mean, she's nothing compared to her brother's reputation let alone yours." Ingrid told me.

"It's not much of a secret that people here don't really like her stuck-up, bitchy attitude." Roxy commented with a scoff.

"But did you know? Word has it that she's actually engaged." Ingrid whispered.

"What?" I asked in shock and nearly spat out my drink.

"It's one of those ones which has been arranged by their families," she told me.

"But it's an arranged marriage, I thought people stopped doing that by now. I mean, don't they used to do that in the ancient days?" I frowned.

"Yeah but some of the major families still do this from time to time."

"That must suck so badly." I grimaced. "I can't imagine being forced into an arranged marriage."

"You'd probably just kick their asses to get out of it." Els joked.

"You know, I think you may be right about that." I laughed. "But still, an arranged marriage? Are either of them happy about it?"

"I'm not sure about the guy, but Marissa couldn't care less since she's marrying into even more money. Apparently, he's a pretty successful guy and his family just wanted him married to have grandkids."

"Wow… I guess coming from a family like that has its down sides too huh?" I sighed.

"I for one am glad that I'm not from a royal family of any sort." Els shrugged. "I can't imagine having to face all the politics and stuff, dhampir or Moroi, it can't be easy being a royal."

"You're damn right about that." I scoffed and it wasn't until I said it that I fully registered my words. It was a slip up and a damn big one too if the confused expressions on their faces were anything to go by. "Sorry, I just meant that I can't imagine having to keep up a mask and be someone that everyone would approve of all the time. I mean, being a royal can't be easy right? One wrong comment could start some kind of a family feud." I joked. Realisation dawned on their faces and they agreed. Well, I was out of danger for now. Until the next slip up anyway. This was definitely a lot harder than I first thought!

Then another thought dawned on me. It was going to need to take extra care at any future parties. If I was letting things slip while I was perfectly sober, I didn't even want to know what I might accidentally blurt out when I was tipsy!

"So wait, I was wondering, do you know what you're going to wear on Saturday yet?" Els asked curiously.

"I've got a few things in my drawers but I haven't decided. Why? You want to turn me into your personal mannequin don't you?" I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously.

"Well…" she trailed off. "I'm not going to lie about it."

"Els has turned both of us into her personal mannequins." Roxy rolled her eyes. "It's just the way she is."

"Hm… if you didn't have to be a Guardian, you'd probably become a fashion designer of co-ordinator right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I still want to do that," she nodded with a shy smile. Aw she was so cute.

"Well I don't really have any objections so knock yourself out with rummaging through my drawer later." I told her with a shrug.

"I have a brilliant idea, how about we have a mini fashion show tonight?" Els grinned with a devious gleam in her eyes.

"We're in a vampire school and you want to have a fashion show?" I stared at her in disbelief. "Are you crazy?"

"Why does it matter if we're in a vampire school or not?" she frowned in confusion.

"There are so many other candidates to choose from." I protested.

"But I don't like them and they're not my friends." Els shrugged nonchalantly. "And I want to see what you'd look like before deciding what we should wear."

"That's what you're after." I groaned.

"Come on Kai, it'll be fun." Roxy said persuasively.

"Pretty please." Ingrid stared at me with wide puppy dog eyes.

"Okay fine but you'll have to promise to never use that kind of voice, it's kind of creepy." I told her with a grin.

After breakfast we headed to lessons and throughout the day most people gave me grins and claps on my shoulder for what I'd done at breakfast to Marissa. In a way I felt guilty for having humiliated her like that, but it was her fault to begin with. I wasn't going to just stand down and let her trample over me like a rug. Not a chance that was ever going to happen.

Another thing that seemed to accompany my day was the horrible nightmare that I'd had that night. There were times when I looked at my friends that I saw their faces covered with blood. Each time that happened I would blink and the blood would be gone. Combat Training was the worst part of the day. Adrenaline and fear rushed through me when I saw Ingrid get smacked down by her partner and I would remind myself that we were still in school and it was only combat class.

I was extra hesitant in striking my opponent who was currently Roxy which earned me a couple of surprisingly hard hits.

"Kai? Are you okay? You seem really out of it," she asked worriedly as she stopped attacking me.

"Yeah sorry, I'm alright…" I nodded hesitantly.

"Does it have anything to do with that dream of yours?" she whispered and grabbed my hand to drag me over to the side so that we could sit down.

"Bull's-eye." I smiled sheepishly.

"Are you going to be okay with class today?"

"Yeah, I can't let it hang over my conscious the whole time or else I won't survive."

"Alright everyone stop!" Joe commanded and it took a couple of moments for everyone in the room to follow his command. "New idea, in about five minutes' time we're going to ring a bell. Once we do that, you all have an hour's time limit to catch Zeklos, the Dragomir twins, Ozera and Valentine. You can work in teams and anyone who manages to capture them and bring them back here within that hour gets to skip out on the six laps around the fields at the end of class and they won't have to do the assault course on Saturday."

"What?" I shouted in surprise as did the other four mentioned people who would be chased after.

"Why us?" Dan demanded.

"It's something to spice up class. If you guys remain free by the end of the hour then you get to skip the laps and the assault course." Crispin shrugged with a mischievous grin.

"You're awful!" I whined.

"There will be designated areas around the campus that you won't be allowed into. They will be marked and there will be other guardians spread around to assess the training." Joe added.

I slowly inched towards the nearest exit to me and waited. I gulped as I noticed the pairs of eyes watching me carefully, waiting for the bell and waiting for me to run for it. When the time came it wasn't fair because the other four Moroi managed to get a head start by using their elements.

I ran as fast as I could and dashed past a pair of stunned dhampirs who were in a different year group.

"Hey, if we work together to bring her down, we can all bail!" I heard some of them suggest.

Damn, they were smarter than I gave them credit for. I picked up my pace and turned a sharp corner. It didn't help that I didn't know the grounds as well as the others so I was already at a disadvantage. The other major disadvantage was I was completely outnumbered! Upon turning the sharp corner, I jumped up onto a small ledge that stuck out from the wall and reached up to a balcony terrace and vaulted my way up onto the roof.

"Hey that's not fair!" I heard someone shout.

"What's not fair are the odds against me!" I called back with a wink before running along the concrete roof of a modern two story block. I mentally thanked myself for wearing dark clothes because as soon as I was out of sight, I blended in with the shadows. Sometimes, having a nocturnal schedule wasn't a complete disaster. It meant that during class the sky was dark and it was easy to find shadows to hide in.

I dodged several pursuers by staying with the shadows and at times I had to press myself up against the wall and hold my breath for them to miss me. Within ten minutes I found a couple of the restricted areas for the purpose of this exercise and I even ran into a Guardian.

"Oh hey wait a minute," he called out to me with a hushed voice so that he wouldn't draw attention. "You're Valentine aren't you? That new kid."

"Yes…" I nodded. "Do you mind if I run off because I'd rather not get caught."

"In a moment yes," he nodded. "There's another part to the game that only the ones being chased should know about. On top of being chased by everyone else, you five also have to gather the signatures of certain Guardians. Each of you have different signatures that you have to collect. I'm one of yours it seems. Here's the list of the others that you have to get."

"So despite the huge disadvantage that we already have, we have another thing to look out for? Just how unfair do they want to make this game? This has to be the toughest game of cops and robbers I've ever heard." I grumbled.

"Hey there she is!" I heard someone holler and I turned to the Guardian frantically before grabbing his hand and running into a random empty classroom.

"Can I have that signature now?" I asked frantically. I watched with a hitched breath as he quickly scribbled on the sheet of paper beside his name before handing it to me. "Thank you!" I smiled before opening one of the windows.

"Hey wait a second that's too dangerous!" he yelled in shock when he realised what I was about to do.

I flashed him another smile before jumping out. Halfway down there was a branch for me to grab onto to reduce my fall and I released it before I was shot back up into the air. As I landed, I bent my knees and squatted as my feet touched the ground to break my fall. I gave a relieved sigh, glad that I managed to pull that one off. Honestly, when I'd first glanced out of the window, I hadn't been sure that would manage it but thankfully that branch was sturdier than I'd thought which helped break my fall.

I did however manage to knick my arm on something during my fall at some point and I only realised it when I felt the small trickle of blood rolling down my arm. I straightened up and patted myself down before taking a look at the cut. And then I glanced up to see a whole class full of people staring at me in shock. I gave them a grin and they seemed to cheer. I could only guess that they had just witnessed me falling from the sky and were cheering because I'd pulled it off.

I took a glance at the list Guardian… Danvers just gave me. There were about six more signatures I needed to get and some of them I knew but there were three whom I didn't.

Jill Drozdov

Raphael Lazar

Guardian Johnson

Guardian Black

Guardian Brent

Guardian Castile

I didn't know who Guardian Johnson, Black or Brent was so I could only guess that they had transferred here after my escape all those years ago. I knew the two Moroi for one simple reason. They were royals so there was no way I wouldn't know. I remembered that they were teachers who helped with the magic classes at this school but I had no idea where they could possibly be so I knew that I had to get some help.

The last name on that list made my heart skip a beat and I swore that I was going to give Joe and earful when I saw him again in practice. It was obvious that he and Crispin had collaborated to make up the list. Joe must've been planning something if he didn't have Guardian Castile's name scratched off my list.

There was a reason why I reacted to his name compared to the others. Alistair Castile was not only a Guardian, but he was still in school when I was still around. And when I was still around, he was my occasional babysitter. We were so close; we might as well have been siblings. If Ali was still as observant as he used to be, there was no way that he wouldn't recognise me. Back then Ali was the one that I ran to if I had anything I couldn't bring myself to tell my parents. Like some of the irritating things that Nick used to do. Ali cared for me, and he took care of me. And as embarrassing as it would be to admit, Ali was also my first crush.

I had no idea what my sudden disappearance did to some of the people I loved and loved me in return. I had no idea how they reacted with the exception of Martin and Joe. I hadn't had the time to have a detailed reminiscence with Joe yet so I didn't know how the others took it. I knew that they were worried, Joe told me as much.

After a lengthy moment of deliberation, I decided to suck it up and not worry about how he'd react and most likely hit me for disappearing without a hint. I turned to face the classroom again and found a couple of students still looking at me curiously. They had to be a class of people younger than me since they obviously weren't the seniors. I gave them a wave before dashing off to find another Guardian or someone who would have any idea about where the people on my list could be.

9


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It seemed that I wasn't totally unlucky today because I managed to avoid anyone in my year and found a patrolling Guardian to ask for help. I took a cautious survey around me before leaving the shadows and running up to the Guardian.

"Um… hi, I'm doing this wacky exercise as part of training and I was wondering whether you could tell me where I might find the people on this list." I ask him and handed him the aforementioned list.

"Ah, you must be one of the ones being chased. Guardian Maxwell did mention something about an entire year group having a chase," he chuckled.

"Yes, he decided to drop the bombshell five minutes before the chase." I grumbled. "When I headed to practice today, I definitely was not anticipating to be chased by the majority of my year."

"He left it until the last second? Wow that's unfortunate. What's the prize?"

"Skipping out on the assault course on Saturday and laps." I sighed.

"No wonder they're going all out, most people don't like the course."

"It can't be that bad."

"Just you wait and see," he shook his head. "I don't know if I'll be able to help all that much but I should be able to help you get Johnson and Brent's signatures. The both of them are on gate duty but Brent is switching in five minutes."

"So I have five minutes to get to the other end of the school?" I stared at him in shock. I blinked and then groaned. "Thanks for the help." I smiled gratefully before taking off for the front gates as fast as I could while sticking to the shadows as much as I possibly could. I managed to make it there in record time and I was completely out of breath when I neared the gate. I struggled not to let my knees buckle from the harsh sprint I just made and stumbled towards them. "Um… are you two Guardian Johnson and Guardian Brent?" I asked breathlessly.

"Yes, who's asking?" they frowned at me in caution.

"I'm Kylie Valentine and I'm apparently supposed to gather your signatures as a part of my training exercise." I told them and retrieved the rolled up slip from my hair.

"Jenson and Maxwell's game of chase right?" one of them laughed. "You look completely out of breath kid."

"I sprinted all the way here after finding out you two would be here from another Guardian." I gave a small exhausted smile. I was leaning my hands on my knees when I sensed something and my guard shot up. I only managed to narrowly dodge at the last second and I whirled around to see a vaguely familiar face. I searched my memory and I remembered that he was the dhampir guy who hung around with Nick. "Christian right?" I asked with a barely recovered breath.

"Just my luck to bump into you, now I won't have to worry about random elements attacking me," he grinned.

"Yet another disadvantage that I seem to have compared to the other two." I sighed. "This game is so unfair."

"You're doing pretty well for being able to avoid us for so long."

"Yep and I'm going to keep avoiding you guys right up to the end. It seems that I have somehow accumulated a reputation and I'd rather not ruin it now."

"Well, it seems that we're at a standstill now. I don't really want to run laps after all this or do the assault course."

"Neither do I." I grinned. "So what are we going to do?"

"There are a couple of options," he smirked at me and made another lunge. One thing I was not expecting was a pair of fucking handcuffs! I froze in surprise when I felt the metal around my wrist and the click of the handcuff locked. The other end led to Christian's wrist.

"You're joking me, you got handcuffs?" I stared at him in disbelief. "Just how drastic are you people?"

"Trust me, compared to what some of the others have planned to attempt, this isn't that bad," he laughed. I tried to jerk away from him but only succeeded in dragging him along as well.

"Well this sucks." I groaned and stubbornly stood my ground when he tried to drag us back to the training room. "Now we're still stuck. What do you intend to do now smartass?"

"Knock you out and carry you back," he shrugged and made a move. I somehow managed to use the handcuffs to my advantage and prevented movement of one of his arm. Using that same arm I grabbed his wrist, holding it firmly I curled my leg around his and forced him down to the ground.

"Sorry but your luck runs out now." I smiled apologetically and knocked him out with a single punch. Then I immediately checked to make sure I didn't break anything and sighed in relief.

"Well that sure is a compromising position to catch you in Valentine. Didn't know Christian was your type," a voice chuckled and I looked up to see Drew Ozera walking up to the gates with a slip in his hand.

"Ah so you guys really do have to do the annoying signature hunt as well." I commented. "This game absolutely sucks. Now I'm stuck with pretty boy here until I find a way to get these cuffs off."

"Cuffs?"

I held my hand up for him to see. "Hm… out of curiosity, how hot can your flames go?"

"You just want me to break you out don't you?"

"Yep." I grinned.

"Looks like poor Christian still has a lot to work on, being knocked out like that with only one hit is going to damage his ego by a lot," he sighed as he stepped closer.

As he squatted down and lifted my arm so that he could start melting the chain of the handcuffs, I found myself admiring him. I wasn't sure why I did that, it wasn't the first time that I'd seem someone handsome or my age. But there was something about him that made him stand out. Even without him having to move or speak I could tell that he held an air of charisma around him. I knew without a doubt that he knew how to use it, but I had yet to see him flaunt it. I found the way he moved with a confident, yet not overly so, posture alluring.

He was close enough that I could vaguely smell the traces of sweat from hard work and something about that sent my hormones into overdrive and I felt my body tingle ever so slightly. I drifted my gaze away from his concentrated expression to his hair since I felt that it would be the safer option. His hair was neither long nor short but somewhere in between and it was completely dishevelled and slightly windswept which was probably the result of running away from the rest of our year. While both our hair was red, mine was more of a flaming coppery red colour. My hair was vibrant and somewhat similar to the sun with far too many colours in it to count. It probably didn't help that I had highlights put in not long ago. His hair on the other hand was more of a rich mahogany colour with traces of red. The way his hair was so thick made me want to run my hands through it just to see if it's as soft as it looked.

I blinked when I realised my own thoughts and looked away from him completely and focused on the Guardians at the gate. It seemed that they were changing shift now so I really did get here just in the nick of time. I noticed the Guardians watching us and they seemed to have some sort of an all-knowing smirk on their faces. One of them even sent me a wink when we made eye contact which caused me to blush.

After a couple of minutes longer, which felt like forever to me, the chains finally became weak enough for me to break them by tugging really hard. I walked over to the Guardians to get my slip back while Drew got his signed by the new Guardian who took over the shift. I took a glance at his slip and saw that he only had one signature left to get. I still had four. Damn it he was beating me by a mile.

"I ran past Drozdov and Lazar talking in a classroom a moment ago. If we go there now we should still be able to catch the both of them. You have no idea who they are and where they would be right?" Drew asked me.

"Bull's-eye." I smiled gratefully. "Thanks for the signatures."

"No problem, good luck with remaining uncaught until the end," the Guardians smiled.

"Thanks." I nodded and followed Drew's lead since I had no idea where to go.

We were walking in a comfortable silence for a little while before he broke it. "What was Marissa talking about this morning at breakfast when she confronted you?"

"What'd you mean?" I frowned in confusion.

"She mentioned you screaming this morning. Is that true?"

"Wow, seems like I'm not the only nosy one." I teased, trying to evade the topic.

"Does it have anything to do with why you were so bad in combat training?"

I just stared at him as we walked. "Are you stalking me or something? How did you notice I wasn't totally with it?"

"I just happened to see you get hit by Roxana and if I was stalking you, I'd know what Marissa had meant about a scream."

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm curious to know what made you scream and from your defensiveness, I guess that it's true."

"Yeah it's true but I think she's exaggerating when she said that I woke up the whole school."

"Marissa is probably known as the queen of exaggeration," he scoffed.

"Basically I had a pretty bad nightmare and it affected me in training. It won't happen again." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"A vampire nightmare or just a normal nightmare?"

"A vampire one."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

That made me stop walking for a moment. Just who the heck was this guy? I knew that he was probably just being nice but I honestly couldn't understand why he seemed so concerned. There was even a hint of genuine worry in his tone of voice which surprised me. This guy was a major royal and not just by name but by achievements as well. He probably had a hundred things he had to worry about so why was he caring about some nightmare I had?

He noticed that I'd stopped so he stopped too and turned to give me a puzzled glance.

"I'm sorry, I know you're probably just being nice and everything but do you mind not asking questions like that because it's confusing me to hell." I told him sheepishly and gave an apologetic smile.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… with the way you seem to ask these questions you're either an emotional psychiatrist or for some reason you've decided to get involved with my wellbeing and frankly it's confusing me a lot because I don't know why."

"Does one need to have a reason for being worried about someone else?" he tilted his head to the side ever so slightly and not once did his gaze leave mine.

"Well no but it's just really confusing alright? I've only known you for three days -"

"The same goes for Roxana, Elizabeth and Ingrid."

"Roxy and Els actually." I corrected him before thinking it through. "They prefer to be called that instead."

"I am not that close to them so I think it would be a bad idea. I wouldn't want to cause them any trouble indirectly."

"Oh and it's perfectly fine to cause _me_ trouble?" I arched my brow. I couldn't help it; it had become a reflex over the years.

"You're different because you cause as much talk as I do and you can handle whatever they throw at you. That can't be guaranteed with those three," he sighed. "I'm sorry if I've scared you but I've been told far too many times that I'm too straightforward in many aspects. This being one of them."

"I'm not scared as such, just confused as to why we somehow manage to slip into these kinds of conversations like we've known each other for a long time." I told him after carefully choosing my words. "I somehow end up getting swept up by your pace before I realise it."

"It's the same for me. I've rarely ever felt confused before and so it seems that the feeling is mutual. I seem to confuse you as much as you confuse me."

"Well then I guess now we're even." I laughed and started walking again.

"You've just skilfully evaded my question about that nightmare of yours," he commented.

"Pfft, obviously not skilful enough since you're asking me about it again." I scoffed. "Before you ask, sorry but I'm not going to tell you what the nightmare was because it strikes far too close to the heart for me to talk about it."

Once again we were walking in a comfortable silence and once again it was him who broke it.

"When was your first kill?" he asked with a somewhat hushed voice. He probably remembered that I wanted to conceal my ability to kill Strigoi and so he spoke with a quieter and softer voice so that it wouldn't echo through the halls. I appreciated his observation but I was taken aback by his question. At least… that was until I remembered that that was the question I didn't answer the other night when we seemed to be playing twenty questions.

"You really do seem to enjoy this game of questions don't you?" I arched my brow at him again.

"You seem like a complicated person so it seemed that the only way to get to know you is through questions," he shrugged casually. "Will you answer it this time?"

Well he obviously remembered that this was the last question too. I thought about it for a long moment before looking him straight in the eye and telling him a false answer. "Three years ago when I was thirteen."

The truth was that it wasn't my first kill. Any Guardian who was involved in coming to my family's aid would've known that my first kill was when I was ten. However, in part it was sort of the truth in a very roundabout way. I made my first kill of a Strigoi when I was ten as an Ivashkov, but I'd made my first kill as my alias when I was thirteen. I realised that I could probably argue with myself for days about whether or not it was a lie so I decided to stop and drop the internal argument.

"Thirteen…" he repeated and looked ahead instead of holding my heavy gaze. He seemed to think about that for a long moment and his expression was unreadable so I had no hint about what he could've been thinking which was frustrating. "I think you've probably set a record there Valentine."

"Hm… only the records will know." I shrugged.

"Why didn't you get the tattoos for your kill? You killed what? Three? Four Strigoi that night and Guardian Maxwell was a witness to at least one of the kills. They would've said that you would be getting tattoos so why haven't you gotten any?"

"Because I didn't want any." I told him simply. "Do you think that these people are going to believe a mere outsider who had been brought up around humans would be capable of staking the number of Strigoi that I had managed? They wouldn't believe it. They would barely believe the fact that I managed to beat you four in a fight even though an entire class stood and watched it. I doubt that they would believe a dhampir novice could take down four Strigoi in a row. I managed to cause enough commotion as it is; I didn't think I needed the tattoos as well."

"I see your point," he nodded in understanding.

"Has anyone in the academy made a kill before?" I asked curiously.

"You mean a novice?"

"Yeah."

He seemed to think about it as he raked through his memory. Then sadness seemed to flash through his eyes for a brief moment. "Existing students or dropouts?"

"There've been dropouts already?" I frowned, feigning ignorance. But I felt my heart pick up the pace ever so slightly at his question. It was obvious that he was recalling the incident six years ago, the horrible incident when a bunch of Strigoi breached out defences and killed one of the best Guardians around.

"There has been one in our year, six years ago."

"Wait… then that means the dropout was really young, how the heck did they manage it?"

"I don't know but the academy never found her and they still haven't," he sighed.

"How many people in our year have actually encountered Strigoi?"

"Less than half. There have been stories, but actually encountering them? Almost less than half. But if you count the incident six years ago then pretty much everyone here has encountered Strigoi. Back then we were kept locked in the dorms for safety while the elder ones, some of the ones who were about to graduate joined in the fight."

"That sounds really horrible…" I trailed off with remorse.

"You don't seem to be so bad with the question game either considering you were complaining about my questions not long ago," he teased in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"What can I say? I'm a little curious about the history of this school." I smiled innocently. "So out of curiosity, when did you first crash into a Strigoi?"

He seemed pensive for a moment. "Last year."

"What happened?" I frowned. "Did anyone get killed?"

"Lucky there were only two so only the Strigoi were killed. I was on holiday with my family at one of our houses in the mountains. It was just after the end of a party we were hosting for my dad's welcome home gathering. It was just an excuse to throw a party really and none of us minded. It was after most people had gone to bed that it happened. Two Strigoi suddenly broke in and some of the guests who saw ran wild. Guardians swarmed the area to ensure the safety of the guests, a lot of whom were royals. It was the first time I fought a Strigoi and the Guardians aren't joking when they said that first encounters with a Strigoi is never pleasant and the chances of actually being able to take them down are very slim. They were right. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get it right even after the training I'd done here at the school. After a while, I managed to defend myself well enough when a Guardian appeared and staked him."

"Have you had any more encounters since then?"

"Just twice and you were there that second time. You saved their lives you know? The girls I mean."

"It seems that one of the Dragomir twins crashed in at the right time because that was what alerted me to the danger." I smiled. "And then I didn't think, I just acted before the Strigoi could bite that girl."

"You have no idea how shocked the Guardians were to sudden see that Strigoi collapse." Drew told me with a wry smile. "We were damn lucky that we weren't attacked in that split moment of surprise."

"How many more Strigoi were out there? I mean… the Guardians took a little while before managing to get into the changing rooms. I'd manage to get rid of two more Strigoi before they got in."

"There were two more out there that they had to deal with. Not to mention they also had a shrieking girl on their hands."

"Oh yeah… there were two of them weren't there?"

"How did you know to use silver stakes?"

"There seems to be a couple of Guardians out there who seem to freelance and I got the tip from one of them on one of my nights in fighting them. I started out only staking them with wooden ones and then burning their bodies."

"How many have you staked?"

"You want the truth?"

"Yes."

"I don't know." I told him seriously.

"You're sixteen and you've lost count on how many you've staked?" he stared at me in shock. "I didn't realise that there were so many of them out there."

"I think it might've had something to do with the areas that I pass at night. There are a few vampire bars around so I guess that's probably the reason."

"Vampire bars…" he frowned in confusion for a moment before realisation dawned on him.

"Do you want to explain that to me by any chance? I don't understand how just by having a bunch of sane vampires would bring around a bunch of insane vampires."

"Strigoi get stronger by drinking Moroi blood. Do you know what vampire bars are?"

"No… should I?" I tilted my head in feigned ignorance.

"For dhampirs, there are several 'occupations' they could have. And occupation is a very loose term. They could become guardians, take a normal job of some sort, or become what we call blood whores."

"Are those the people who live in whore houses?"

"I guess so…" he shrugged. "I don't really know since I've never met one. I'm curious to know how you know about compulsion. You mentioned it when we were still on the plane."

"The freelance guardians I met in the city taught me a couple of necessary things to defend myself against vampires with magic."

"No wonder then, I wondered how you could've stayed unbitten and fairly unharmed if you've associated yourself with vampires more than any other human raised kids."

"I've been curious about another thing. From what I've read so far, it seems that royals would get assigned the top Guardians. Also, not that many Moroi take combat training alongside dhampirs, so why are you four well known royals taking combat class?"

I had been curious about this for the past couple of days now. I remembered there not being any royals in combat class back when I was still here at the academy. There were barely any Moroi at all in class. So what changed? And when?

9


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

He seemed to take a deep breath before letting it out. "That day of the attack six years ago, one of the best Guardians died along with the last surviving Moroi Ivashkov."

"Ivashkov is one of the royal names right?"

"Right. That was one of the things that made me realise, just having dhampirs fight won't be enough. They might be generally built to be physically stronger, but it didn't have to be like that. That day, I watched from my window as some of the senior Moroi fought alongside dhampirs to take down Strigoi. It was what made me realise that even though sustaining royal lines was an important thing, fighting with the dhampirs instead of standing there and doing nothing while they risked their lives is even more important and would increase the chances of both the survival of Moroi and dhampirs. So after that attack and everything calmed down enough for us to attend classes again, I switched courses and took on combat class with the dhampirs. At first I was on my own but then a couple of weeks in, the other three joined in. With us four royals in that class, it seemed to bring in other Moroi to come and try it. A lot of them dropped out because they couldn't handle it."

Which was fair enough. Classes were hard enough for us dhampirs who were born to be able to cope with this sort of thing, never mind the Moroi who were generally born less muscularly capable.

"Wow… that's a pretty inspirational story." I marvelled. I never would've thought that the attack was what made Drew the kind of person he was now. But I suppose that everyone had to start somewhere and I suppose my turning point had been that attack as well.

"The ones who really persuaded me to take on the combat training was the Ivashkov family."

"The Ivashkov family? I thought you said there was only one surviving."

"He was the last Moroi Ivashkov. But he had a wife and a daughter. The daughter was a dhampir with elemental magic which has never happen before. I never saw her much but I saw her the day she made her escape through a weak spot in the wards." Drew told me with a heavy gaze as though there was something he was holding back.

I thought back for a moment to my own recollection of that day and tried to think of whether there was anything that happened that could've left such a deep impression on Drew Ozera. I came up with nothing. Perhaps there had been something that he'd seen through his eyes that I hadn't at that moment. Whatever it was, I had no clue about it but it seemed to mean quite a lot to him.

"I wish that she could've stayed. If she'd stayed, it would've been pretty awesome to train with a dhampir who could wield fire."

"As much as I hope that nothing had happened to her after she left, but she was only ten so I doubt she's managed to survive." I told him with a sympathetic voice.

"No, I think she managed," he shook his head. I didn't know why he seemed to certain, but it seemed to make my heart skip a beat. The firm belief that he held for me was unexpected for sure. I wonder how he would react if he discovered that he'd just revealed all that to the same girl that he was talking about. How would he feel once my secret became exposed? Would he feel betrayed that I'd lied to him all this time? There were far too many things that he could possibly feel once the secret was out. Just thinking about the possibilities made my head spin.

"Really? Well… anyway this is a bit of a morbid topic…" I laughed nervously and rubbed the back of my neck. "Have you managed to get practice in with your magic yet?"

"A couple of times yeah," he nodded. "There've been a few lucky times when a fire user visited the academy and offered to help me out."

"That sounds awesome, the ability to fight both physically and magically I mean. I can imagine quite a few cases where it could definitely save butt."

"I've been meaning to ask this before but, do you have some kind of a music career by any chance?"

"Pardon?" I stuttered in shock.

"When you sang in the bar, although you were slightly drowned out by the other two girls which I think was on purpose, I could vaguely recognise it. You're that singer from Vampire Hunters aren't you?"

"Well I suppose you being the ridiculously stubborn and observant guy that you are, there's no point in me lying since you've figured it out." I sighed and smacked my forehead at my own idiocy for not being careful enough. "How did you find out?"

"At all the parties that we have, your songs are always being played and during other times as well I would sometimes hear the girls playing your songs so it's not unfamiliar to me," he gave me a surprised smile. "So I'm right then? You are that singer aren't you?"

"Yep and my manager screamed at me for a good ten minutes when I told her that I would have to pull out."

"You pulled out? That's a shame. I was curious to know what your next song might be."

"Well it's a little complicated at the moment but I may not actually have to pull out. The Headmaster found out about it and he might be considering helping me out. Nothing's been decided yet so who knows what's going to happen. So you've heard my songs huh? What do you think of them?"

"I think they're very unique to your voice and you're surprisingly talented for someone our age."

"Hey, I've had some pretty tough competition against other singers who are our age. It seems like the popular people seem to be getting younger and younger." I commented.

"Then you'll probably be glad to hear that you're have no female competition at this school when it comes to singing talents."

"Really? None at all?"

"Oh I've heard my fair share and have nearly gone deaf as a result," he grimaced as he seemed to recall unpleasant memories.

"That is definitely a relief." I smiled. "I mean, Moroi girls are definitely captivating so they'd probably gain a good audience with looks alone."

"What's it like out there?" he asked suddenly.

"What'd you mean?" I frowned in confusion.

"In the human world. Is school just like this but without the magic and the vampires?"

"Well I guess the social side of things is pretty much the same. That's the only reason why I've managed to cope so well so far. I've had pretty good experience with how to handle cocky people." I smiled. "It's one of those things that you can't really describe very well so you'd have to experience and see it for yourself."

"That's kind of impossible for me unless I drop out or something," he sighed.

"Hey Raphael! I still can't get this to work!" I heard a female voice call out in frustration and a man I somewhat recognised gave a sigh before walking back into a classroom.

"You're in luck, the pair of them are still here together." Drew laughed.

"Thanks a lot for showing me where to go." I lightly punched his shoulder in appreciation. I walked up to the classroom and knocked on the door. Both Moroi glanced up from the computer and gave me a surprised glance. "Hi, I'm Kylie Valentine and I was wondering whether I could have your signatures as part of a training exercise I'm doing for Guardian Maxwell and Guardian Jenson." I smiled politely as I remained by the doorway, waiting for their permission to walk into the classroom.

"Oh yes of course, I did get a call about that." Jill nodded with a warm smile and beckoned me towards them.

"So you're the new dhampir girl they were talking about in the common room. The one who managed to beat Andrew Ozera." Raphael openly examined me and eyed me up and down.

"That would be me." I nodded with a small proud smile. I plucked the signature slip from my hair again and handed it to them for signing.

"Not much longer to go Miss Valentine, I wish you good luck with the rest. If I recall correctly, you should be able to find Guardian Black at the assault course with the seniors." Jill smiled encouragingly.

"And I think Guardian Castile is at the elementary division for the week so you should find him there somewhere." Raphael added.

"Thank you both so much for the help." I beamed. Not much longer to go now! All I have to do is remain uncaught. I bade them both goodbye and ran out of the classroom.

"Got it?" Drew asked and ran alongside me.

"Yep and I know where the other two are as well now." I nodded. "Who've you got left?"

"Headmaster Hunt."

"You would probably find him in his office right?"

"Yeah, I'll see you at the finish line Valentine. Don't get caught."

"And the same goes for you Ozera." I grinned and we knocked our fists together before running in separate directions. I dashed through the white high ceilinged halls and headed back out onto the cemented paths to head towards the assault course. I reckoned I ran for around five minutes before I crashed into my next challenge. I had turned a sharp corner when two guys crashed into me and we fell in a tangle of limbs.

"Ow…" a voice that I could recognise groaned and sat up with me on his stomach.

"Ow is right." I complained and got up to see a group of both Moroi and dhampirs around us.

"Well this sure is lucky. Now there's three of them we could catch and any one of them would do." Nick smirked as he eyed me with a leering glance.

"Oh don't even think about it O'Connor. You couldn't bring me down when I was only using one finger." I scoffed as I helped the Dragomir twins stand. "Sorry about the crash by the way."

"Not a problem, it was as much our fault as it was yours." Quinn shrugged and rolled his shoulders.

"It seems that we've got ourselves into a little fight situation." Jackson grinned.

"It sure does seem like it." I smirked. "Oh this is going to be sweet. I get to take asshole down for a second time without breaking any rules. This couldn't get any better."

"Don't count on it hot stuff, you're completely outnumbered," another Moroi commented with an equally leering glance as Nick.

"In some cases numbers could matter." I agreed and eyed up the group. Three Moroi and six dhampirs. It might be a little effort, but definitely easily doable. "But this isn't one of them."

"Oh really? We'll just have to see about that."

One of the Moroi must've been a fire specialist because we were suddenly enclosed by flames. They weren't quite touching, but certainly close enough for us to feel the burn ever so slightly. The twins and I stood back to back and Jackson made some sort of a swirl motion with his wrist before a wall of earth shot up and blocked off the flames. He created a save path for us to get out of the flames and as soon as I saw my opportunity, I leapt out and knocked out two of the Moroi within the space of ten seconds. The pair of them dropped to the ground, one only having been punched in the stomach and the other being struck in the back of his neck.

I made my way towards Nick with a determined glance but one of the dhampirs jumped in between and blocked me off. I tilted my head to the side for a moment and waited for her to make her move. Her movements were fast, I'll give her that and they were also precise. Her main problem was that she left far too many openings. When she made her next charge at me, I ducked down at the last second, grabbed her legs and flipped her over my body and pinned her down.

When I was sure that it was safe for me to look up, I saw that both Jackson and Quinn had taken care of the other three dhampirs. All three were knocked out and left tied to a tree.

"Hey Jackson, I don't have the heart to knock her out so wanna give me a hand and tie her to a tree by any chance?" I called out.

"Aw, well aren't you a big softie," he chuckled but nodded. I stood up but made sure I had a firm grip on her wrists and locked them behind her back before walking her to a tree where Jackson tied her up with roots that he summoned with his magic.

"Didn't realise that you were an earth specialist." I smiled at him gratefully.

"There's a lot you don't know about me chick," he winked.

"Are you trying to flirt with me? In the middle of class?" I laughed.

"You can't blame a man for trying."

"You're not a man just yet." I waggled my finger in a 'no' motion. "And where do you think you're going O'Connor?" I asked cheekily when I saw him edging away. "Don't tell me that you're backing away from a challenge that you started?"

"Don't kid yourself, there's no way that will ever happen!" he snapped. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice Quinn sneaking up behind him and Quinn didn't take pity on him either. He simply smacked the back of Nick's head and he lurched forward in pain. He then proceeded to drag him towards a tree where he was tied to the ground.

"Are you guys nearly done?" I asked the twins.

"We've both got one left. I have to get Dr Salvatore's." Jackson held up his list with a grin.

"I've got Belikov and she'll probably be in her office." Quinn shrugged. "How about you?"

"I need to get to Black at the assault course and Castile at the elementary division apparently." I sighed. "It's not too bad."

"Good luck with the rest of the game."

"You too." I nodded and sprinted off again. Finding Guardian Black was easy since I remembered where the assault course was and I saw Ingrid's brother there along with his friend so I gave them both a small wave when they noticed me and gave me a smile. Then I headed to the hardest one of the list.

Alistair Castile.

Finding my way to the elementary division was a little tricky since I had almost no recollection of where it would be. So I had to ask for directions from a patrolling Guardian who kindly pointed out the way.

As I was heading towards a relatively large training area, I heard the loud squeals of smaller kids. Just as I stepped in, I was almost instantly tackled by about three different small six year old looking kids. I fell to my ass as they clung to my waist, neck and leg.

"Well hello." I smiled sweetly at them as I made sure that none of them had been hurt during my fall.

"Hello big sister! Who are you?"

"My name is Kylie, who might you guys be?"

"I'm Jen." Jen was an adorable little girl with sandy blonde pig tails tied with sparkling red hair ties. Her wide innocent chocolate brown eyes stared up at me and she had a huge childish smile that was stretched across her face.

"I'm Trace." Trace was an adorable little boy with messy black hair and surprisingly bright jaded eyes that eyed me with curiosity.

"I'm Pat." Pat was a young girl with ginger ringlets framing her childishly round face and her grey-blue eyes shone as she stared at me.

"Well nice to meet you three." I smiled again and patted their heads as I stood. I noticed how Trace didn't seem to want to release his hold around my neck so I placed an arm under his thighs and supported him on my hip as I carried him along with me while holding Jen's hand with my spare hand. Pat seemed to settle with holding onto my trouser leg. "I'm looking for Guardian Castile, do you know where I can find him?"

"Do you mean Al?" Pat asked and tilted her head to the side.

I thought for a moment and nodded.

"He's this way!" Jen squealed and tugged my hand. I let her take the lead and followed her to a small adventure playground with a jungle gym and various monkey bars. There were some other prep school styled adventure courses and I smiled as I recalled my memory of practicing on those when I was that young. I watched with a soft smile as my eyes instantly landed on the child loving man whom I recognised instantly. Sure he had grown since the last I saw him, but I could still recognise him.

He'd matured in the past six years, his masculine features were even more defined than they used to be when he was just seventeen. His face seemed firmer and he had definitely gotten more muscular over the years. I could see the muscle defined arms as he effortlessly carried three kids in one go while they clung to his neck and head. The kids laughed and giggled as he played those childish games with them.

His hazelnut coloured hair was wild and tousled, most likely from the number of times kids had clung to him. His animated green eyes shone with amusement and joy as several kids tackled him in an attempt to bring him down but he struggled playfully against them all. Pat and Jen released me to join in with the massive pile on and I gently set Trace onto his feet. He seemed a little shy and unsure of whether to join in or not so I gave him a small nudge and gestured with the nod of my head to encourage him to join in.

I smiled at him and crouched down so that I was eye level with him. "You want to join them right?"

"But… am I really allowed to?" he asked nervously as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

"Of course you are. You're every bit a monkey as the rest of them are." I laughed. "So go ahead and join them. It'll be fun."

"Promise?" he asked innocently.

"I promise." I nodded and held out my pinkie for him to shake.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment longer before running off and joining in with the pile of kids trying to hold Ali down. I stood up and patted myself down. When I lifted my head up to look at them again, I found Ali staring at me first with surprise at the fact that a stranger was there, but then several emotions seemed to flash across his expression.

Familiarity, confusion, anger, back to confusion, and then sheer joy.

I felt myself melt at the joy that sparkled in his eyes and an even wider smile spread across his face. The smile was so fond, so loving and so familiar. I felt tears prickle in my eyes but I forced myself to hold them back. I lifted my hand and gave a small wave and a smile.

He somehow managed to hastily detach himself from all the kids who protested and moaned in frustration for not being able to hold him down. And then he ran towards me. Before I knew it, I was in his arms and squashed against his chest. There was barely any air between us and I could hear him murmuring almost incoherent sentences over and over again.

I laughed a little and wrapped my arms around his waist. I snuggled slightly into his embrace, wanting to feel the warmth that I had missed for so long. We stood there for god knows how long before he finally broke the hug but kept his hands on my shoulders and held me at arm's length to inspect me with an intent gaze. I shifted slightly awkwardly under his gaze but he didn't let me go. When he inspected me around three times from head to toe, he finally gazed deeply into my eyes and I could see tears beginning to gather.

His hands reached up from my shoulders to my cheeks and I gently placed my hands over his as we seemed to stare at each other for so long. And then he leant down and starting kissing all over my face. My forehead, my cheeks, my eyes and even brushed over my lips a few times! A blush crept onto my face and I stuttered in embarrassment.

"Ali! You still have a class!" I squealed in surprise. I managed to push him away and I noticed that a tear managed to escape and trailed down his face. "Oh Ali…" I whispered and gently wiped it away.

"Al? Is that your girlfriend?" Pat asked innocently as she ran over towards us.

"Well now, wouldn't that be incredible?" he eyed me again and chuckled. "But no, this little beauty is not my girlfriend. But she is someone very important to both me and the world."

"Ali!" I protested.

"It's true and you know that there's no point in denying it," he winked at me and draped an arm around my shoulders.

"You're mean." I pouted and childishly stuck my tongue out at him. "By the way, you need to sign this." I plucked the slip from my hair and handed it to him.

"Huh?"

"Just sign it Ali." I rolled my eyes and pointed at where his name was.

"Wait… I was told that there would be a girl novice called Kylie Valentine."

"That's me." I gave him a cheeky smile and a wink.

He stared at me in confusion for a moment longer before realisation dawned. "That's why I didn't know of your return… We have a lot to catch up on."

"I know, we can do that after my classes. Arrange something through either Martin or Joey." I told him. "Now please hurry and sign it Ali. I need to be back soon before Joey decides to think I've disappeared again."

"Hm… speaking of disappearing," he grumbled and I suddenly found his knuckles drilling into the side of my head as he gave me a noogie.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" I complained as I tried to pry his hands away.

"We will definitely have a talk later about this," he told me with a slightly angry tone before taking my slip and signing it.

"I'll be seeing you around then Ali." I nodded with a small apologetic smile.

"Ah big sis! Are you leaving us already?" Jen complained.

"Sorry but I have to get back to class." I ruffled her hair.

"No! Stay with us!" Trace shook his head and launched himself at me and clung to my neck again.

"Please big sis!" Pat stared at me with pleading wide eyes.

I turned to Ali and pleaded for help with my eyes.

"Come on kids, big sis can come back to visit you three little monkeys." Ali lifted Jen and Pat into his arms in a comforting gesture.

"Really?" Jen and Pat chimed.

"Of course I can." I nodded. "You'll have to go so I can head back to class Trace." I told him.

"I don't want to," he pouted and tightened his grip slightly around my neck and buried his face in the crook of my neck.

I patted his back and ran my hand through his hair soothingly. "I promise I'll be back soon okay?"

"That's what my mama said," he whispered with a teary voice. I stiffened in surprise before patting his back a little more.

"How about this?" I shifted him so that I supported him on my hip and took off my necklace which a small ring hung from. The ring had become too small for me to wear since it was something given to me as a kid. It was a silver band made of flower embroidery. Ali's eyes widened in recognition and a small smile graced his lips again. "You must keep this safe for me and I promise that I'll come back to visit you. This is a very important thing to me. Do you think you can protect it for me while I finish combat class?"

Trace lifted his small head from my shoulder and glanced at the ring. "It's very pretty, it suits you."

"Thank you." I smiled.

"You promise to come back?" he asked as he took the ring carefully in his small hands.

"Yes I promise." I nodded and placed the necklace around his neck. I kissed his forehead and set him on the ground again. "I leave this cute kid in your capable hands Ali."

"Be back soon or else these three will run to hunt you down," he teased me but I could hear that underlying warning in his tone that stated that they really would if they didn't see me soon enough.

"What time is their curfew?"

"Eight."

"I'll come back after dinner." I told him. "See you later Guardian Castile." I winked.

"Don't get your ass kicked," he scoffed.

"Haven't you heard?" I arched a brow at him.

"Heard what?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll hear enough from Joey when you confront him about this." I shook my head and ran off before I could be delayed any longer.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

One way or another I managed to find my way back and for some reason I felt lighter. I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my chest. I suspected that it had something to do with the fact that I was reconnected with Ali. When I first left the school and made life for myself out there, Ali was one of the people that I had missed the most, because he was always there for me. It was easiest for him to be there for me a lot of the time because he wasn't weighed down by other duties unlike everyone else who had a job to do. And there had been times when it was easier for me to talk to Ali because he wasn't an adult yet. In my eyes, he was still a fellow kid of some sort. Now that I thought about it, it had been completely ridiculous that I thought that, but it made me open up to him so much. Losing such a person after I left the academy broke my heart and it took me so long to adjust without all those people around me anymore.

I remembered that each time I needed a dose of confidence, I would clutch the ring that Ali gave me for my ninth birthday present and it had somehow become a lucky charm of some sort. I also had a small pendent which I kept hidden in a small decorated box in my drawers. I used to wear both the ring and the pendent on the same chain but I knew that I couldn't wear it here. If anyone asked to see the picture inside, they'd find out my secret. The picture inside was of one time when I had gone to the beach with my family and it was a picture of me with my parents.

I had a slight feeling that I would continue feeling a lightening emotion every time I encountered someone important from my past. There were only two people left to confront. My dearest aunt on my mum's side, and the school doctor who was a good friend of the family and a good friend of mine too considering the number of times I'd had to go to the infirmary when I was younger.

"Just give it up Dan. Sorry but an opportunity to skip laps and the assault course is too good to pass up." I heard someone grunt. I stepped around a corner to find Dan Zeklos surrounded by four other dhampirs and his hands were currently tied behind his back by something.

"I don't want to do the laps or the assault course any more than you guys do," he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

I watched the scene for a brief moment and the idea of leaving him alone flashed through my mind. And then I blinked and slapped my hands against my cheeks. What the heck was I thinking? Abandonment was not a word in my vocabulary!

Without another thought, I jumped into the fight and shoved away the first dhampir that got in my way. He gave a surprised shout since he probably wasn't expecting to be attacked by someone other than Dan.

"Ah, now we have two people we can capture," another dhampir eyed me up and down like he was analysing me.

"You seem to have gotten yourself into a little bit of a pinch haven't you?" I grinned at Dan.

"You're going to help me?" he seemed surprised for the fact and I turned to him with my arms crossed.

"You don't want me to? Do you think that you can handle those guys all on your own with your hands tied behind your back like that?" I glared at him.

"I just didn't expect it alright, I didn't exactly get into your good books with our first meeting," he said sheepishly.

"Yes well I gave you three your punishment by beating all three of you so that's all in the past so long as you never do such a thing again." I rolled my eyes and ducked just as someone tried to punch me from behind. "You guys really want to be hit don't you?" I glared at them.

"Let's see you trying to take on all four of us at the same time," he sneered and lunged at me. I grabbed onto his shoulders when he was close enough and using a strong amount of force combined with the pull of gravity, I flipped over him while holding onto his shoulders. As I landed I crouched down and threw him over my body, slamming his body front first into the ground. He grunted in pain and I reckoned I managed to incapacitate him for the moment. The next two reached out to grab me at the same time and I jumped up. They ended up grabbing onto each other's hands and I placed my palms on the bridge made by their arms to balance myself. I swung myself around and kicked both their sides of their heads.

I landed softly on my feet and noticed Dan struggling with the last standing dhampir. "Dan, touch your toes!" I yelled at him as I ran towards him. Despite the fact that his hands were behind his back, he still bent down in the right way as though he was trying to touch his toes. I placed my palms on his back and vaulted over his body and kicked the dhampir in the chest. The force of my kick was more than I intended and he sailed backwards and slammed into the wall of the building beside us.

The other three got up and surrounded us again. They cautiously but swiftly approached us and a move that I had always wanted to try out sprang to mind. It was a move that I had seen in Chinese movies and I had the urge to test it out. Taking advantage of Dan's still bent forward state; I placed my palms on his back again and got into a hand stand position with my elbows bent so that I was lower. And then I spread my legs into splits and using my hands, I twirled around and kicked all three of them. I noticed their shocked expressions as they fell.

I flipped off of Dan's back and landed with my knees bent and my hands touching the ground. I lifted my head up and blew at the strands of that fell into my face as a result of the small fight.

"Wow, any more moves to show us martial arts girl?" Dan chuckled as he rested his chin at the top of my head.

"Unless you want me trying them out on you, then nope." I grinned cheekily and stood up. I walked behind him and untied the thin silver chain that bound his hands together. "Gee… where the heck did they get this?"

"Most dhampirs around here have one," he shrugged and rubbed his wrists where the silver had burned his skin.

"Is that painful?" I asked with open concern and gently took his hands in mine so that I could inspect the burns.

"It stings but it's bearable," he smiled and withdrew his hands. "I have to say that I was not expecting you to jump to my rescue. Do you mind if I call you Kai?"

"Go for it." I waved dismissively. "Let's go before we get pounced on by anyone else. If we run back now, we'll get back just past the time limit. I have a feeling that there'll probably be a crowd of dhampirs hanging around there hoping to catch us at the last second."

"Yeah, it'll be the most logical move to them if they've failed to catch us any other time." Dan agreed and the pair of us took off running back towards the training room. Just as I had predicted, there really was a crowd of dhampirs and Moroi waiting at the doors of the training room. Dan and I hung back in the shadows as we contemplated on what to do. We were surprised to be joined by Drew and the twins.

"So now we're stuck." Jacks grumbled when he saw the herd.

"Maybe… there has to be a way through." I frowned as I tried to look for a way in.

"We could always force our way through. It'll be easily done with all five of us working together." Quinn suggested.

"But it also causes a high risk of them holding onto us as we crash into the training room. That would deem them the winner so that plan is a bad idea." I shook my head.

"Do you have a better idea?" they turned to me.

"Maybe." I smirked when I noticed a window to the far side. It was pretty much in the middle between us and the crowd but slightly closer to us. "How good are you guys at breaking open a window?"

"You're asking four elementalists that question?" they stared at me wryly.

"Just asking. Well I hope you four are quick runners because we're going to count on that as our win." I said defensively.

"You're thinking of using that window aren't you?" Drew asked when he saw the same opportunity that I did. "That's very risky."

"But so totally our style, don't you think?" I smirked. "And besides, we have a slight element of surprise since they probably wouldn't expect us to face them head on."

"Well we have no other suggestion so let's go for it. Even if it fails, we can still go with throttling them to get past." Quinn shrugged.

"Then let's go win this game." I cheered quietly and with that said we ran as fast as we could towards the window. Drew and Jacks were in the lead side by side with me just behind them and then it was Dan and Quinn was at the back. We managed to run five paces before someone noticed and called for the others and they began running towards us. I reached behind me and grabbed hold of Quinn's hand and dragged him along with me as I picked up the pace. He seemed to slip a little bit but managed to keep running without tripping up.

I had to say that it was a very close call. The crowd hadn't expected us to go for the window so our sharp turn to the right was a surprise to them and Drew and Jacks both used fire and earth to smash open the window a millisecond before we threw ourselves through and landed in a pile.

"SAFE!" I cheered and fell into hysterical laughter. "My insane plan worked!"

"That it did," the other four laughed and smacked my back playfully.

"Cheers for saving my ass just now." Quinn smiled at me and held out his hand to me to help me up when he'd stood up.

"No problem, there's no way I wouldn't make sure every person of the team got through. It was my insane plan after all." I smiled.

"And your insane plan damaged school property." Joe sighed as he shook his head in exasperation.

"It's alright, we'll take responsibility and pay for it," the five of us chimed at the same time. We turned to stare at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter together.

Joe and Crispin stared at us for a moment before wide smiles broke across their faces. "Have you five got all the signatures?"

"Yep," we chimed and handed the slips over. The pair double checked the lists and nodded in approval.

"It seems that you five are the winners." Joe announced aloud. "That means you all have to do laps and the course on Saturday!" he told everyone else. They let out a collective groan and Crispin stepped closer to give me an impressed light punch to the shoulder.

"That team work was impressive and I thought for sure that with so many disadvantages, at least one of you would get caught," he commented.

"We did nearly get caught but Drew and Kylie here helped us out and broke us out of trouble each time." Jacks commented.

"Oh really? I look forward to hearing the report of other Guardians who've kept an eye on this challenge." Crispin stated.

"How many Guardians were watching us by the way? Because I barely saw any." I frowned. I tugged the hair tie and shook my hair loose so that it tumbled over my shoulders in thick masses.

"They tailed each of you and if they ever lost track they would pass it on to the nearest Guardian to each of you." Crispin explained. "You were watched the entire time and taped as well. This will certainly be an interesting recording."

"It won't be shown to everyone right?" I stared at him in horror.

"No, it will be for analysis purposes only so you do not need to worry about that," he shook his head and ruffled my hair causing me to sigh in relief.

"You five are free to go or do whatever you want since you're all done for today as part of the prize for winning." Joe told us.

"Do you want to sit with us for today since we can leave early?" Jacks offered as he turned to me before the four of them left.

"Thanks for the offer but I'll stay and wait for the other three to finish their laps." I shook my head. "It won't feel right if I just leave without them. Maybe another time."

"I'll have to hold you to that Miss Prodigy." Quinn smirked at me and nudged my shoulder playfully.

"Oh no, not you guys too!" I groaned and smacked my forehead. "Really? Is that necessary?"

"Sure is," they nodded with smirks on their faces.

"Jerks." I huffed but because my tone held no menace, none of them took offence.

"This achievement will spread like hellfire for sure so be prepared." Dan warned me.

"I'll take whatever they want to throw at me." I grinned but was grateful for his concern.

The four of them left and Crispin went off to make sure everyone was running their required laps. When I was sure that Joe and I were alone, I turned to him with a glare.

"You! You are absolutely evil!" I screamed at him and poked hard at his chest. "You made that list didn't you?"

"Yes," he stared down at me in amusement.

"Then why the hell did you make me go look for Ali?!"

"Because I know that he would be hurt if he didn't see you. If you had prolonged it for any longer, you'd be hurting both him and yourself so I decided to give you a hand."

"Do you know how embarrassing it was?" I groaned as I hid my face with my hands. "All those little kids were there and he… argh I'm never going to live this down. If this gets out then I'm so screwed."

"What did he do?" he sat me down and sat beside me.

"Well he recognised me straight away with a glance. He broke away from a pile of kids trying to hold him down. Boy was that an amusing sight. He ran up to me, hugged me for a long time and then decided to shower my face with kisses."

"Aw, so your little dream came true," he teased.

"Joey!" I squealed in further embarrassment. "I can't belief you just said that!"

"Hey, you did have a crush on him remember?"

"Yes I do remember thank you very much. That's beside the point!"

"I know, I just like teasing you Kai," he laughed and ruffled my hair. "So how was it? Seeing him I mean."

"It…" I tried to find a word to describe how I felt. "It was incredible." I sighed a little breathlessly. "Nothing can describe how happy I felt when I saw him. I mean, the same goes for you and Martin and I know that I'll be overjoyed to get in touch with the others as my real self again but you know that Ali was always slightly different."

"Yes I do Kai, you don't have to try and explain. We all know that Al was either your ideal prince or ideal brother to you."

"Prince? Did I really refer to him as such when I was younger?"

"You sure did. What do you think now?"

"I've only just seen him Joey, I have no idea how I feel. At the moment, I'm just trying to sort out my emotions and not to explode from happiness from seeing you all again." I scoffed.

"Finding you so out of the blue was so unexpected. I could barely recognise you but after we boarded the plane and I got a better look at you, I could see the resemblance. I only got the confirmation because of the stake though. There is nothing that could describe how Martin and I feel to have found you. The huge sense of relief that you were alright. Heck you are better than alright, much better than alright. We are so proud of you Kai."

"Thanks Joey." I smiled and gave him a brief hug. We chatted idly for a while longer before moving outside so that I would be able to tell when the other three finished their laps. I noticed with surprise that Ingrid was the fastest out of the three of them, then it was Els, and then it was Roxy. I had wrongly judged that because Ingrid seemed to find combat class challenging, I wrongly assumed that she wouldn't cope well with the running. But it seemed to be her strong point.

"Thanks so much for waiting Kai." Roxy beamed with an exhausted smile.

"No problem. I bet you three are starving now from all that exercise." I grinned.

"I'm so tired I don't even have that much of an appetite." Ingrid groaned.

"Well you guys have to eat or else you'll become ill or pass out." I advised them and gently pushed them towards the dining hall.

"How on earth did you manage to win? I know you're an amazing fighter but surely with both Moroi and dhampirs gunning for you, you would've slipped up. I thought for sure that we would have a high chance." Roxy complained.

"Well to be honest, I didn't really bump into anyone since I spent most of my efforts to avoid you guys as much as possible." I admitted. "I think I only bumped into trouble once on my own. The other times I was either with the twins or Dan."

"I still can't believe you managed to win!" Els beamed.

"You will now officially be known as the prodigy alongside those four Moroi." Ingrid cheered. "Now you can't deny it anymore."

"I can still deny it. Whether anyone takes any notice of my complaints is a different story." I scoffed. "Hey Els, you know how you said that you wanted us to have a fashion show tonight?"

"Yeah, don't tell me you want to pull out? Because I won't let you," she glared at me.

"It's not that drastic, but do you mind if we start a little late? I want to make a visit to the elementary division after dinner." I shook my head to reassure her.

"The elementary division? Why?" Roxy turned to me in surprise.

"Well during my task of acquiring signatures from various people around school, I had to go to the elementary division and it seems that a couple of them somehow got a little attached to me." I smiled sheepishly.

"So not only are you popular with the senior end with the school but also the little kids? Wow now that's impressive." Ingrid whistled.

"It's only a couple of them." I protested and waved my hands around in defence.

"What time will you be back do you think?"

"Apparently their lights' out is at eight so maybe eight thirty?" I suggested.

"Okay, that's fine. We'll start when you get back."

"You guys should start first. You probably have more things to go through than I do. Honestly, I only have one or two things that are remotely suitable for a party type thing." I told them. When I had asked Ana and Louise to help pack my bags, I hadn't anticipated on being invited to parties at all so I only told them to bring over one or two outfits that would be suitable for such occasions. I had asked them to pack as little as possible while still packing sufficient amount since I didn't want Martin and whomever he took with him to help carry my things to have to carry too much.

"It won't be fun to start without you. We'll have plenty of time after you get back so don't you worry about it." Els winked.

"Man, I know what I definitely have to get tomorrow." I groaned when I noticed that my hair tie was missing from my wrist where I normally kept it.

"What?"

"Lots of hair ties. I just lost my last one." I sighed.

"You have another training session after lunch right?" Roxy frowned. I nodded and she handed me one of her spares. "Take this one for now and give it back to me tonight at dinner."

"Thanks Roxy." I smiled gratefully. We walked into the dining hall for lunch and the noise of numerous conversations occurring at the same time continued for a while until someone shouted.

"Hey it's that girl who flew from the sky!" someone hollered as he stood up and pointed at me.

"Um… what?" I stared at him in open shock.

"You fell from the sky right? I mean, one moment I was just staring out of the window along with a bunch of other people in my class, and then you just dropped and landed without hurting yourself," he beamed in excitement. "Hi, I'm Tate, a freshman. You must be a senior since your move was so awesome!"

"Actually… I'm just a sophomore." I told him.

"Wow… you're not even in your final year and you could pull that off…" he marvelled.

"Its nice meeting you Tate but I'm going to get some food so see you around kid." I laughed and headed to the food bar with Roxy, Els and Ingrid. "Well that was awkward…" I whispered to them.

"What did you do?"

"Well I was kind of cornered in a classroom when I collected my first signature so the first thing that came to mind as my escape route was the window. I was on the second floor and I somehow managed to survive without injuring myself other than receiving a small wound where a branch cut me when I dropped down." I explained to them.

"You jumped down from the second floor?" they stared at me in disbelief.

"Yep."

"Are you crazy?!" Ingrid demanded.

"I've been told that on several occasions." I grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of my neck guiltily.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The rest of lunch passed by with random comments from people I didn't really know about the challenge today and they congratulated me on my win as well as the other four who took part as victims being chased. It was the maddest game of cops and robbers I'd ever played but I had to admit that it was pretty entertaining. Somehow, I had a slight hunch that the game was also a way of taking a look at what our team work could be like. It was an obscure way to test it, but there had been times when team work was necessary. Like the group fights that I was involved in on two occasions and it seemed like Drew was too since Jackson mentioned both of us saving their asses at some point. And then there was that stunt at the end to win the game.

Team work was also important for those trying to catch us. The first part was to try and find us, even harder part was to capture us. That would've required much more than simple head on fighting. It would've required strategy to try and create a way to capture and drag us back to the training hall. I reminded myself to ask Joe about that when I went back for my extra training session later.

My mood was quite high from the enjoyment of the game and for simply hanging out with my friends, but it dropped instantly when Marissa Badica appeared with an expression that could kill.

"Wow… what crawled up her ass and died?" I whispered to the other three who struggled to keep their laughter in.

"Hey you!" Marissa shouted at me and pushed me back a few paces with her wind. "Who the hell do you think you are, to act so high and mighty just because you're a little better than an average dhampir at combat?" she hissed as she stormed up to me. She got so close that I could smell her peppermint breath and the perfume that she wore.

"At least you took my advice and steered away from complete white this time." I joked in an attempt to diffuse the tension that instantly shot up between us.

"I couldn't care less what you said! What would you know about fashion? Just look at you, so shabby and wearing those ugly clothes. Is looking like a beggar with no money part of your sense of fashion?"

"Okay now that's taking it a bit too far." I narrowed my eyes at her and I felt my blood begin to boil in anger.

"I doubt it, you probably couldn't afford a decent outfit being as poor as you most likely are with your mum's history of being a blood whore. That can't earn much for the family. Or has she managed to attract a wealthy costumer? Or maybe she offers more than just a bite?" she taunted.

"Alright that's it! What the fucking hell is your problem?" I growled at her and jabbed my finger at her shoulder. "I've done nothing except maybe take a little attention away from you! That gives you no right to start badmouthing either of my parents! And for your information my mother was not a blood whore!"

"You probably wouldn't even know it even if she was," she continued with her taunt. "I mean, aren't you completely oblivious about our society? Why are you even here anyway, nobody wants you around you ugly whore. I bet you take after your mum, I bet you're dying to sleep with any guy you can get your hands on."

"No, sleeping around is what _you_ do. Don't even think about putting me in the same group as you." I clenched my teeth together. "And you know what? You're right; I do take after my mother. She was a great teacher and she taught me how to defend myself."

She seethed with anger and pushed my shoulders forcing me back a few steps again. "Let me tell you this right now. Here in our community, we have Moroi who have royal family names. I'm one of them so you might want to take back your words."

"Oh I know you're a royal, but you're not worthy of your nobility. You can't even get anywhere with social statuses without having to fuck O'Connor!"

"Shut up! Take that back!" she screeched and threw herself at me. I stepped to the side and easily avoided her.

"Why don't you deny it yourself Marissa? Or maybe you can't?" I laughed bitterly.

"You are nothing but a whore just like your filthy mother! It's no wonder that your father left her after a one night stand that resulted in a mistake like you! You're not loved by anyone, especially not by your parents! I bet your mum resents not having an abortion!"

"For the last time, don't you dare insult my parents!" I shouted at her, finally losing my control and I could feel my body growing hot. It was the same reaction as when I used fire to attack. I could feel it building within me and for a moment I panicked. I couldn't lose it. If I lost it I could seriously injure someone and I didn't want that at all. In my haze of anger, I didn't even notice the crowd that had gathered around and I could vaguely see my friends trying to get through along with guardians and the four Moroi prodigies.

I felt shock run through me as I clamped down on my power and all of a sudden I felt like being sick. The sudden rush and loss of power left me staggering and I fell onto my knees panting for air.

"You're not so tough are you?" she sneered and grabbed my hair and forced my face up to face hers. She held up a blade and held it to the side of my face.

"Marissa that's enough!" I heard someone bark and a wall of earth shot up forcing her back. The earth fell back down and Jackson dashed towards me and crouched down so that we were eye level.

"Are you alright? You look really pale," he frowned with concern. He rested his hand on my forehead and snapped his hand back. "Holy shit, you're burning up really badly."

"I'm fine." I gasped as I felt the magic course through me once again and I clamped my eyes shut and clutched my head in an attempt to shut the world out. I couldn't let this happen. There were far too many people around for me to lose control. I felt the magic of the bracelet warring against my own magic wanting to lash out at the cause of all this.

"It's her fault! She ruined everything!" Marissa shrieked. "She has to pay for insulting my family!"

"Kai did no such thing." Dan scowled and backed me up. "All she did was to retaliate against the horrible things you've said about her. How dare you start abusing and insulting her family when you don't even know anything about her?"

"The only thing she ruined was your fake image by revealing the truth. It was never going to last Marissa so just get over yourself." Quinn added. "Perhaps if you'd kept your legs closed and climbed up the ladder through conventional methods, this never would've happened. You have no one to blame but yourself."

"Drew what do I do? Her body isn't cooling down!" Jackson called out.

"It's alright, I'm fine." I insisted but I was trying to reassure myself more than them.

"Get her away from the crowd and get a Guardian." Drew instructed before turning a hard cold glare to Marissa. I saw her flinch and fear flashed across her eyes. "Marissa do you even know the real reason why we tolerate you? It's not because Nick brought you along as one of his toys, but because of your brother, James. He'd been kind to us before when we were younger so we thought we'd repay him in part by accepting his sister."

"No matter how much of a slut you were we still let you blabber on to no end without rejecting your existence once." Quinn continued. "But you've crossed the line for blindly and foolishly insulting and attacking someone who is much better than you could ever dream of becoming."

"You've dirtied yourself for nothing Marissa. If you had wanted to be our friends, we would've allowed it out of courtesy for James but even he will be disappointed in you after hearing what you've done." Dan concluded. "And he will hear everything about it about what you've done from day one. Don't think that we don't know. Everyone knows that you're the one who started all the gossip about Kai. They only went with it because you sat on our table. You'll be lucky if you don't get transferred. But perhaps that would be a more merciful thing to do."

"Dan, stop, it's fine, honestly. I just let the anger take over for a moment that's all. You can all stop now, look at her, she's practically reduced to tears. This is most likely her worst nightmare come true." I told them with a soft tone.

"If that's the kind of nightmare that she has then she's not worth our time." Jackson scowled.

"Everyone has their own fears and nightmares so it wouldn't be right to judge them." I shook my head. I wasn't sure why I was saying these things after all that she said about my parents but I pitied her. The way that the four most respected and popular people in our year ganged up on her at the same time must've been terrifying and completely humiliating. And I'd bet that she was really regretting sleeping with Nick now that she knew it was all for nothing. Being told that she'd sold her body off for nothing to do with popularity must've struck a nerve.

"Oh just listen to you being all kind and understanding just to make yourself look better in front of them again. All you do is flaunt yourself without stop. Bitches like you make me sick." Marissa spat and tried to lunge for me again but Drew easily held her back without effort.

My temper shot up again and I was surprised when a cloth suddenly covered my eyes and a pair of headphones slipped onto my head and onto my ears. My body was lifted and carried away and I had no idea where I was being taken to. I thought I heard Martin's voice over the music that was playing through the headphones but I couldn't be too sure. After a while my body was set down and the blindfold was removed. I saw Joe with his lips pursed into a thin line and I could see the anger raging in his eyes.

I sincerely hoped that we were somewhere vaguely out of sight because without another thought I flung my arms around his waist and buried my head into his chest and balled my eyes out. I let out all my anger and frustration into tears. He hugged me close and murmured gentle words into my hair since his head was on top of mine. He ran his hands over my back and my hair in soothing gestures and held me until I calmed down.

Eventually I felt the heat diffuse and I felt somewhat normal again. At least now my magic was no longer trying to find a way to burst out. That definitely would not have been a safe thing to happen. Never in my life had I prepared myself for such disgraceful and revolting insults to be directed at my parents. Fair enough she had no idea who my parents were, but that still didn't give her any right and it sure as hell didn't make it hurt any less to hear my parents being talked about like that.

I could tell that Joe must've heard it too when he carried me out of the scene. It was no wonder that he was furious. For anyone who knew my true identity and were close to my parents, it would've been natural for them to be livid. So far as I knew and could remember, I had never once encountered someone who insulted my parents. Sure there had been those who called out jibes against them but nothing as rude as what Marissa had done. I was also shocked that one person could insult someone else's parents to such an extent without having any clue at all about who the parents actually were.

"Are you feeling better?" Joe asked with heavy concern as he held my face in his hands and stared deeply into my eyes.

"I'm in the right state of mind now if that's what you meant and I'm no longer in danger of randomly imploding and killing the people around me." I smiled weakly.

"I am so sorry you had to hear that sort of thing."

"It's not something you could've prevented. To be honest, I had no real evidence that she had been the one spreading the rumours since I only met her this morning but I had a hunch when she starting throwing those insults. But I knew what kind of guy O'Connor is so I guessed about the part where she slept with him in order to sit on that table like that."

"There've been rumours and facts that have flown around the common room as well and the fact is that she has slept with him on several occasions and also caught numerous times by a patrolling Guardian."

"So it's true? About her I mean."

"I'm afraid so."

"That's… horrible." My stomach churned in disgust at the thought of all the things that she might've done which were all for nothing… "I don't understand how someone could do that and still act so proud like they're the king or queen of the world. I also can't understand how she could possibly behave in such a way. It's disgraceful to her family, especially since she's a royal. When this gets out, it's going to be absolutely hell for her."

"Martin is probably going to punish her for violent assault and verbal abuse as well. Her chances of remaining at this school are very slim. And even if she does get into another school, this type of thing will definitely spread. No matter where she goes, she will have this hanging over her for the rest of her life."

"Martin?"

"He was there at the scene. As soon as I saw the commotion and that you were in the middle of it, I thought it would be best to contact him to let him know something was happening. I didn't expect him to turn up but he did. He heard most of it."

"He did…" I choked. "God… no one wants to hear that kind of thing."

"He's absolutely furious and will be contacting her parents."

"How on earth did it end up like this? And it's only my third day…"

"Well with someone like her thoroughly punished or expelled, it will be a serious warning for any other rumour starter to watch their mouths and your life should be a little less filled with insults."

"It's not just that, I've somehow unintentionally and indirectly ruined someone's life." I groaned and buried my face in my hands.

"Kai," he whispered and took my hands away. "This is in no way your fault. You cannot help being yourself and it was because of your unprejudiced personality that has earned you friends and people who will support you. Don't blame yourself for something that isn't your fault. Don't make a burden for yourself because it isn't yours to bear."

"Can we go to practice now?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Kai, I don't think that's such a good idea. I want you to rest and cool your head."

"Please Joey, there's no better way for me to calm down except a good training session." I pleaded with my eyes. "I just want to take my mind off of it. I want to forget about all the things that she's called Mum and Dad. Please?"

"Alright, but the first sign that you're not feeling on top of the ball, I'm sending you to Rosette, do you understand?"

"Yes." I nodded.

He gave a heavy sigh but complied with my request so the pair of us headed to the training hall. Crispin wasn't there yet so Joe had to call him. "Crispin was there as well and he caught the tail end of it all."

"How many people were there?" I asked with a daunted voice. I didn't really want to know how many people had witnessed that nasty argument. It couldn't really be classified as a fight since no punches or kicks were thrown around.

"Quite a lot of nearby Guardians were there. Juliet was there but she didn't notice you because Jackson was shielding you. I consider that to be a good thing, otherwise, that girl probably wouldn't be alive right now. I'm proud of how well you coped with the situation Kai. You didn't lose control."

"I nearly lost it." I commented dryly.

"Nearly, but you didn't," he smiled. "And that's what matters."

"Valentine? Are you still planning to train after what happened?" Crispin stared at me in surprise when he saw me. "I would've thought you'd want some time to cool down or something. I only caught the tail end but that girl seriously lost it."

"I'm beginning to wonder whether she ever had it to begin with." I scoffed and began my stretches. "And besides, no better way to cool down other than going all out during a training session."

"Point taken," he laughed and thumped my back with an impressed expression. "Hey, I've been told today that I would be accompanying you and three other dhampir girls shopping at the mall tomorrow. Is that true?"

"What do you mean?"

"When students want to go into the city, whether they are Moroi or not, they have to be accompanied by one or two Guardians. I'm one of them and Maxwell is the other."

"You two are the assigned Guardians? Good thing you two get along then or else you'd probably be bored out of your minds." I laughed. "It's unfortunate that female Guardians weren't the ones who were assigned."

"I've found over the years that watching over dhampirs is much better than the Moroi when it comes to going to the mall." Joe shrugged and I turned to face him with an arched brow. I had a sneaking suspicion that he might've had a hand in deciding who accompanied us to the mall. Martin probably thought of Joe first as one of the assigned Guardians.

"So um… I have a favour to ask." I asked slowly.

"It depends on what the favour is," they stared at me suspiciously.

"Basically, some kids in the elementary division want me to go back to see them as soon as possible so I was wondering whether I could leave practice a little early today so that I could shower before going to dinner. That way I can head straight over after dinner."

"Some kids in the elementary division? How did that happen?"

"Honestly, I have no idea." I sighed. "I went to get the signature from Guardian Castile and a couple of kids kind of stuck to me and wouldn't let me leave unless I promised to go back and see them."

"Well considering the pretty intense challenge we set you earlier, we'll take it easy for this session and just go for a quick run before having a couple of spars and see how you do." Crispin suggested and turned to Joe for agreement.

"I would suggest to let you out straight away but since you insisted on coming to practice, we'll have to do something so we'll go with that plan," he nodded. "Give me three laps and I'll time you."

"Okay." I shrugged nonchalantly and waited for him to get a stop watch before dashing out for the laps. Thankfully, I didn't bump into anyone during my run which was somewhat a miracle but I was thankful for it. I wasn't sure whether I had reconstructed my defences well enough for me to answer any questions yet.

I seemed to arrive back at the training room with a new record since I went all out with my running, trying to vent my frustration and anger out. Joe glanced at the time on the stopwatch, then back up to me before giving me a surprised but proud smile. "Impressive, just over six minutes for 24 000 metres."

"Six minutes?" I stared at him in shock. "Are you sure you got that right? I can't have gone that fast."

"Apparently you can if you push yourself." Crispin grinned and handed me a bottle of water.

"Thanks." I smiled gratefully and took a couple of quick gulps. I had barely finished drinking the amount I wanted when Crispin suddenly lashed out with a fist. I narrowly missed his punch and I could feel his knuckles brushing the hair of my fringe. Instinctively one foot moved slightly outwards and back to strengthen my stance. I had so much practice in my life that little details like this had become a reflex without me having to think of it.

"Let's see what you can do," he challenged and with that thrown into the open, both he and Joe started attacking me with whatever strategy they could conjure. I found myself having to think fast and there wasn't a moment when I wasn't off the ball. If I had slipped up, I most likely would've gotten an ugly bruise to my side or shoulder.

After around an hour and a half of almost straight combat my breath had become raspy, my body boiling with heat and my movements had reduced in speed ever so slightly due to fatigue. Sweat laced my brow and a few parts of my body felt a little numb from exertion. However, I couldn't help but giggle, several moments later, I threw Crispin to the mat for the umpteenth time that afternoon and he stayed down this time. Joe had gone down about five minutes ago, refusing to get up anymore. Crispin had continued on through sheer determination to bring me down but I was more than pleased when I slammed him down once again and he didn't get back up. That meant that I had won without having to rely on any tricks other than pure combat.

I sat down in between the two of them and stretched my legs out. "So does that mean that I've won?" I asked cheekily.

"Yes you little champion. You win." Joe scoffed and smacked my leg since that was the only thing he could reach.

"Sorry for being a pain." I laughed.

"No you're not. In fact, you're thoroughly enjoying the fact that you can beat us both at the same time," he rolled his eyes.

"Maxwell wasn't kidding when he said that you held yourself back during classes." Crispin groaned. "I can't believe I just got crushed by an undergraduate who isn't in her last year at this place! Not to mention you only transferred this week."

"Well in all fairness, I have pretty much studied every form or style of combat that exists out there so it does give me a fairly high advantage since I'll have a lot more tricks up my sleeve."

"We should definitely get you to help out with classes," he stated seriously.

"I'll help if I get paid." I retorted.

"How about we bribe you with cakes?"

"How about you bribe me with two beers every Saturday if I help you out?"

"Beers?" Joe sat up and faced me with a glare. "You're an alcoholic? You're underage!"

"And I worked in a bar every evening after school too until the early hours of the morning and I would drink at least one bottle each night. I'm only asking for Saturdays. It's surprisingly relaxing." I told him defensively. "It's only a suggestion."

"No," he stated firmly with a strict tone.

"Okay." I nodded sheepishly. It felt odd to suddenly have someone who would be strict with me like a parent like this. The way that he was acting was probably something that my parents would've done. "Um… how about you bribe me with… books and stationary and other random little things? I'll make a wish list and give it to you and for each class I help out with; you have to give me something on the list." I suggested.

"That's a fair enough deal. You're a books girl?" Crispin stared at me in complete shock.

"I don't seem like one do I?" I smirked.

"Most fighters aren't readers."

"Well I guess that I'm just one of a kind." I laughed. "So as much as I like both of you, since I beat the both of you to pretty much exhaustion, can I go?"

"Feel free, you're dismissed." Joe and Crispin nodded while still lying on the mats.

I gave them both a pat on the shoulder before jumping up and walking back to the dorms.

8


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

On my way back, I passed several Guardians who sent me sympathetic glances. No doubt word of what had happened had spread like hellfire through the academy and it was apparent that most people here knew of it. It was even worse of a scandal because it involved a royal. Whether she was of high status or not, this kind of event would definitely attract attention. Well, technically speaking, it involved two royals since I was one too regardless of the fact that I was a dhampir because I was literally the last of my family. And then there was also the fact that the four royal boys had joined in too half way through to prevent my face from being slashed by the knife that she had held.

A deep part of me wanted to run through the halls as fast as I could back to the dorms so that I could shut myself away. Then I remembered that that was how I _used_ to react to these kinds of situations. But through the years, I've learned that it was definitely better to keep my head up and not to show fear or anxiety. Running away was not an answer and I had promised myself that I wouldn't put myself in that kind of situation ever again. To show any kind of cowardice was banned for life and I would carry that to my grave no matter what.

I had passed some dhampirs and Moroi too but all they did was murmur amongst them and none seemed to have the courage to come near me. I took a deep breath and simply gave them all a small smile to show that I was relatively harmless. _Deep breath, chin up, back straight, shoulders back and walk like a royal._ I reminded myself the whole way back.

The time seemed to pass excruciatingly slowly as I walked and more and more pairs of eyes watched me as I neared the dorms.

"Kai!" Ingrid gasped when she saw me walk through the common room. Roxy and Els lifted their heads as well and watched me with a concerned glance for a moment before running up to me.

"Oh my god, are you okay? Marissa totally lost it! When she held up that knife I had no idea what was going to happen. Why didn't you fight back?" Els demanded and shook my shoulders. "The one time you should fight back, you end up being passive. Why?"

"Because I was on the verge of completely losing my control." I smiled tightly at her. "I wasn't trying to be passive; it was just the way it might've seemed to everyone else. You have no idea how close I had come to beating the complete and utter shit out of that girl."

"Really?" Roxy eyed me carefully.

"If Guardian Maxwell hadn't turned up and taken me away, I undoubtedly would've beaten her to the verge of death and probably killed her." I told them grimly.

"Gosh, you have no idea what's been happening since you were dragged away by Guardian Maxwell, Kai." Ingrid gushed. "There's been so much chaos and so much talk. It's the first time in such a long time that I've seen a large group of royal Moroi talking with dhampirs."

"You know how it is first hand, quite a lot of them are rather up themselves." Roxy sighed. "But what happened back there… there's no way she's going to stay at this school. Even if by some retarded chance that she is allowed to stay, if she has any common sense left in that derailed brain of hers, she'll leave the school to try and save some face."

"Sorry, I don't want to cut you guys off but, well to put it simply, I reckon I stink from the amount of exercise that I've done today so I'm going to take a shower before dinner. That's why they let me out early. Do you mind if we talk about this after my shower?" I asked with a small smile.

"Of course not! Sorry we didn't mean to bombard you like that." Els apologised with concern shining in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it; you can bombard me all you want, after I smell better." I laughed freely to show that I really wasn't all that bothered by their questions. I was somewhat curious to know what had happened after Joe had dragged me away. I wanted to know what other people had thought and how they had responded. At least if I found out then I would have some idea of how to react to them. It would definitely help if I was vaguely on the same page as everyone else.

"We'll be in Els' room so go there when you're ready." Roxy smiled and wrapped her arms around me in a soothing gesture. I watched over Roxy's shoulder as Els and Ingrid shared a look before a grin broke across their faces and they joined in too, forming a group hug.

"Choking a little here," I coughed.

"Deal with it." Els retorted. "We were so worried about you, Kai. We had no idea what you would be like once you reappeared."

"More like, we had no idea _when_ you would come back." Ingrid countered. "But we're glad to see you."

"I'm happy to see you guys too." I gave them all a heartfelt smile. They seemed satisfied with that so they finally released me and let me go upstairs to my room. When I got in I headed straight into the bathroom and turned on the water to let it run for a little bit so that it would warm up. As the water drummed onto the marble surface of the shower, I scrutinized my reflection in the mirror.

My hair was a total mess, strands were hanging everywhere from the unruly way that I had tied it just before I took the run. Hair seemed to stick out at odd angles. My cheeks were still flushed from the sparring and the run that I had just done. I detected the spots on my shoulder and side - after removing my top - that hinted at upcoming bruises but they were small and light. There was a tiny scratch on my face from when Marissa had threatened me. Thankfully the cut wasn't deep so the scratch was barely visible. The angry red line that oozed a tiny amount of blood was a solid reminder of how close to the edge that she had been. Thinking back, I wouldn't have been surprised if she had tried her best to kill me. Sure she didn't say it directly, but it was in her eyes. They were the type of eyes that belonged to someone who was no longer in their right frame of mind.

A similar crazed and distraught gleam was in my eyes too, I noted. I too had been very close to the edge and I knew that it wouldn't have taken much for me to be sent tumbling over the line. For a moment unadulterated fear gripped me and my knees buckled. I sank onto the carpeted floor and rested on my haunches as I gripped my bracelet with my opposite hand. I let out a shaky breath and I felt the still air in the room begin to swirl slightly as my power tried its best to leak out.

"Deep breaths girl, you're better than this. You have to be better." I stammered. "Don't let it take over."

I gripped the bracelet even tighter and mumbled the words that were like a chant over and over again. I heard the sound of a crack cut through my mumbling and I looked around to see what I had unintentionally done. At first I couldn't see anything, but then I noticed the long but thin crack that ran diagonally on the shower door. I groaned in infuriation but at least I could no longer feel the power trying to break free.

Damn it this wasn't right. Since when the hell did a power dominate its user? It wasn't fair!

After a few moments longer, when I was sure that my power had subsided to a safe state again, I took the rest of my clothes off and stepped into the shower. I gave a sigh of pure bliss as the tepid water instantly began to sooth my aching muscles. I stood there for a while to let the water do its work before grabbing for the shower gel. I lathered up and scrubbed any spot that I could reach before ducking under the shower head to rinse off. Then I worked on my hair which took a little while due to its length and thickness.

Nearly half an hour later I was done and I wrapped the lusciously soft red towel around my body. The towel was neither long nor short but ended mid-thigh. I trudged out of the bathroom with water dripping at every step I took and I nearly screamed and jumped out of my skin when I saw someone sitting on a chair. It took me a short moment to realise that it was Ali. He had his back turned to me and was staring at the picture of my old football team so he hadn't noticed me just yet.

"Ali? What the heck are you doing here?" I complained.

This time he was the one who jumped and turned to look at me. Then his entire body froze except for his eyes as he seemed to take his time scanning every inch of my suddenly over exposed body. His eyes became slightly clouded and I snapped my fingers at him.

"Oi Ali, eyes up and stay on my face." I snapped at him with a small smirk on my lips.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting an amazon goddess to show up," he grinned coyly.

I felt my cheeks warm as blood rushed to my face and I turned away from him to grab some clothes from my drawers. I stomped back into the bathroom in embarrassment and shut the door behind me. I made a quick work with getting dressed. I pulled on my red and black laced set of underwear, cropped leggings that ended at mid-calf, a long tank top and overalls with shorts instead of trousers. The overalls was made of a smoky patterned material and clung loosely to my curves with a belt at the hips and pockets at the front. The shorts were short and above mid-thigh and the slightly off-shoulder sleeves were only three quarter length.

Grabbing my towel, I dried my hair casually as I walked back into my room where Ali was still transfixed to the chair. I sat crossed legged on my chair and arched a brow at him. "So what are you doing here in my room? I thought you were on duty down at the elementary division?"

"I heard about what happened so I came over as soon as I could get away," he inspected me cautiously like I was some kind of an animal about to pounce or let loose.

"Don't worry about it, I'm calm now after a little bashing out session with sparring and a full on sprint." I smiled reassuringly at him and for another long moment he didn't seem convinced. Of course, his judgements were made based on my old self so it would've been inaccurate anyway. I was nearly 100% certain that I was safe now and thankfully not a threat. If I was my old self, I would still be unstable for another day or maybe even two and I knew that that was what Ali was thinking.

"Are you sure?" he frowned in concern.

"Yeah. Just you watch Ali, I'm not as cowardly as I was back then. I've grown stronger. But thanks for coming to check on me."

"I've heard from Joe that you are at the top of your class," he smiled.

"It wouldn't be a lie…" I noted sheepishly. With my abilities, I knew that I was fully capable of being at the top.

"Turn around," he told me and I hesitated for a moment before doing as he'd asked. He grabbed the towel from my hands and started drying my hair for me. "You've changed, I can see that but you are still the same in some respects. You still suck at drying your hair."

"It's not my fault." I complained. "There's so much of it. Also, we need to find some time to have a long chat so that we can catch-up. I have so much to tell you."

"How about now?"

"Ali, you're in my room in the girls' dorms. It's not like it was back then when you could just come to the house." I laughed. "Will you be over at the elementary division all week?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm going shopping tomorrow but I'll have lots of time afterwards so I'll come around then."

"The kids would love that."

"They really love you don't they?"

"I spend most of my duties there."

"That explains it. Quick question, who's Trace? Did something happen to him because he seemed really reluctant to let me go for some reason?"

"Two years ago there was an attack where they lived and their mother was murdered."

"Oh…" I grimaced. "No wonder then… That does explain his fear of letting people go."

"He really has taken a liking to you." Ali smiled. "He really likes your hair, it reminds him of the sun."

"He likes the sun even though he's Moroi?"

"Yeah, because Strigoi don't show up in sunlight."

"Well then I guess I'll become his ray of sunshine and chase away the Strigoi for him."

"They aren't that easy to beat Kai. Nothing short of killing a pro wrestler is going to be able to truly prepare you for that."

"I know, I fought them before."

"You were ten and you got lucky because of the pillar of earth, Kai. You can't rely on that," he told me sternly like a profession Guardian.

I turned around to face him and tugged his collar down to see his promise mark and one _molnija_ mark.

"You've made a kill… when?" I whispered.

"Three years ago," he smiled grimly. "I was staying with my friend on a day off and we were in a bar. After that it was in the early hours of the morning when there was an attack in the back alley. His charge was killed instantly. Then the year after that I lost my charge, which was also on my day off when I was visiting my family."

"Oh Ali…" I leaned in and wrapped my arms around him. "I've missed a lot too it seems."

"Probably not as much as you're thinking," he shook his head. "Why do you seem to be confident about Strigoi? There's something in your tone that I can't place and I have a feeling that it's not to do with that first Strigoi from when you were ten."

"Well you see… it's kind of a shocking story really…" I trailed off awkwardly, unsure of how to start.

"Just tell it bluntly like you normally do, Kai," he whispered.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." I gave a nervous laugh and fiddled with the edge of my shorts. "Basically, if I ever got the tattoos, I would have the one from when I was ten, four from the night when Joey found me, and then a couple of marks to show that I have no idea how many I've taken down over the years."

"Four in one night…" he held me at arms' length and stared at me in astonishment.

"Four in less than 15 minutes." I corrected him.

"Oh god… I had no idea, Kai." He seemed to pause for a moment to gather his thoughts before asking another question. "When was your first outside kill?"

"13."

"So young…"

"I've been told that a few times already."

"You don't seem to fully understand why so let me explain it to you. We're so astounded by the strength of your mental and emotional competence. It's unbelievable that you aren't overcome with grief and don't require counselling of any sort. For a 13 year old to have pretty much started a Guardian duty is totally unheard of. A child that young shouldn't be able to cope with the horror and the reality of having taken someone's life. Their mind would automatically go into shock. Remember Rose Hathaway? Even she didn't get out of her first kill without having consequences to her stability. You are extraordinary in so many ways that's not possible to explain and many different will have their own other reasons for their respect of you. And the fact that you did it all on your own too… Incredible."

"Are you done? That's far too many compliments…" I told him with a nervous smile as I toyed with the hem of my shorts.

"You are still incredibly modest and shy when it comes to compliments?" he stared at me incredulously. "Man, girls your age love compliments."

"Well I will have to admit that that's another thing that hasn't changed and most likely never will."

"It wouldn't hurt if you could be a little more self-assured and less embarrassed about them without being over confident about it."

"I'd rather be bad at it." I scoffed. "Anyway, I need to go to dinner so I will see you after that when I head over to the kiddie school."

"I'll see you there," he nodded. He pulled me in for another hug and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek.

"God I've missed you Ali." I sniffed and grabbed him for another tight hug.

"And you have no idea how worried I was when you suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth like that," he grumbled. "I have yet to give you an earful about that and it will come so expect it."

"Gee… at least after you have a go at me, there will only be… two more to go. Yay." I commented sarcastically. "Oh man, the one with Aunty Jules… she might kill me!"

"That's the consequence for making us worry about you like that and giving us all heart attacks and insomnia for god knows how long. There were days when I would just start thinking about you and I would wonder whether you were alright or whether you really had been taken by Strigoi. No one knew what had happened to you, Kai. It was absolutely terrifying."

"I'm sorry, Ali." I told him remorsefully. "Strangely enough, although I never once considered returning and becoming a guardian, I sometimes thought about what it would be like if I saw everyone again."

"Well now you know," he chuckled.

"So I do," I grinned. "See you later Alster." I winked, using his old nickname that I had invented. I wasn't sure why but there had been a phase that I had gone through when I was obsessed with hamster-like names and so I gave him one.

"Don't be too long Kalster," he gently slapped my back. I grabbed a pair of socks and quickly tugged on my converse before heading over to Els' room. Ali skilfully snuck out of my room and left the dorms without being questioned for his being there at the dorm.

"Kai!" Roxy beamed when she saw me after opening the door.

"Ooo, I'm liking the smoky overalls." Els nodded in approval.

"Thanks, I like them too, that's why I bought it." I grinned cheekily at her.

"Good decision. Definitely better than anything else you've worn so far." Els teased.

"Hey, I resent that. There was nothing wrong with my army styled trousers." I protested.

"Have you ever seen anyone else wear that kind of thing as part of their casual wear on the streets?"

"No, but this isn't the streets, this is a combat school when it comes to dhampirs." I retorted matter-of-factly.

Els tried to think of a come-back but there was only silence.

"Wow… Els actually got outspoken about fashion… that hasn't happened for a long time!" Ingrid laughed as she joined us. "Shall we get going? The sooner we get there, the sooner Kai can head off to the elementary kids."

"Thanks Ingrid." I smiled.

The four of us headed to dinner and it felt like it was my first day all over again. All conversation ceased when people noticed that I was there and most of them simply stared. I had been right when I thought that what had happened would spread like hellfire. Walking through the corridors was bad enough, but to have to sit and feel all their eyes staring at me, it wasn't all that pleasant.

During the middle of dinner, Joe walked in, scanned the dining hall for a moment before his eyes landed on me. He walked swiftly to our table and stopped. "Valentine, you're being requested by the Headmaster."

"It's going to be about this afternoon isn't it?" I sighed and stood up. "I'll see you guys back at the dorms later."

"We'll be sure to play some songs that are bound to cheer you up when you get back." Els smiled brightly which lifted my mood a little.

"Thanks Els, I appreciate that." I nodded and followed Joe with heavy steps. "So what's this talk about?"

"Her parents are here to offer their personal apology to you. They had already realised before this incident that Marissa's behaviour had been wavering backwards and forwards over the line throughout the past year and they are ashamed of what their daughter had done."

"They want to give me an apology? That's not necessary."

"You might not think so, Kai. But to them this is important. It hurts them that something like this has happened and they feel responsible because it's her daughter who caused it all."

"So I'll be in the presence of two royals. Okay. Thanks for the heads up Joey." I nodded appreciatively.

When we got to Martin's office, Joe gave me time to take a deep breath and let it out before opening the doors.

8


	17. Chapter 16

_**I'm sorry that I couldn't make it in time for your birthday yogibearxlover. But Happy late birthday any way! Hope you like this chapter ^.^ **_

_**Also, in regards to RoyalxOzera's review, Drew is there on the same flight as Kai on the way back to the Academy and he's also there when the other three Moroi boys apologize to her. The reason why he isn't hit is because he didn't do anything wrong. And as for the hallway bit, he's there but he doesn't say anything because he didn't need to. I hope this clears things up a little bit ^.^**  
_

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Chapter 16

"Ah Valentine, please come in and take a seat." Martin beckoned and I walked in. I noticed two other people in the office and from their vague resemblance to Marissa; I guessed that they must've been her parents.

"If I may, I would like to say something first." I told them.

"Of course," he nodded.

I walked over so that I was standing in front of the two Moroi and bowed to them. "I'm really sorry!"

"Pardon? We should be the ones apologising for our daughter's unforgivable behaviour," the mother frowned.

"But I feel the need to say that her actions towards me today weren't completely unprovoked."

"Please, sit down and you don't need to bow."

"But I am in the presence of royals am I not?"

"Would you listen if we asked you to sit?" the mother smiled softly at me.

"If that is what you would prefer." I nodded and took a seat opposite them around the coffee table in the Headmaster's office.

"Please explain why you just apologised?"

"I should start from the beginning. Marissa's… violent behaviour today may have been instigated by my taunt about her this morning." I smiled apologetically.

"What happened? I was informed by Headmaster Hunt that Marissa was the one to start everything including the incident during breakfast," her father frowned in confusion.

I tried to think back on what had happened during breakfast. "I… I had a nightmare this morning and I woke up screaming which in turn jolted a few others who share the same floor awake. I guess that the news of my scream was spread around and it reached your daughter's ears. When I got to breakfast, she made some sort of comment about it and at first I ignored her because I didn't want to start anything. But then she started taunting my friend Ingrid so I turned around and asked her who she was. At the time, I really had no idea who she was."

"Which is perfectly reasonable, after all, our daughter hasn't done anything that would make her recognisable until today."

"She said something in return which I cannot remember at the moment but then I retorted by calling her a nobody." I gave them a sheepish smile. "That probably wasn't the brightest move considering how she is a royal and all…"

"We have told her many times that she mustn't abuse her title and both my husband and I know well that she has always ignored our warnings. We have warned her that abusing the title will land her in deep trouble." Lady Badica sighed.

"Well there's more… I also called her an ironing board…" I laughed nervously and rubbed the back of my neck. "It was harsh but it just sort of came out before I could stop it since I'm so used to high school banter and hurling insults on whim."

"Yes, Headmaster Hunt did mention that you only arrived this week, is that right?" Lord Badica asked curiously.

"Yes." I nodded. "And there is one last thing. When she threw me into the air, I guess I sort of lost it for a moment. In retaliation, I grabbed a grape, threw it at her glass of juice and it sort of toppled over which splashed onto her white dress."

"You threw a grape which managed to knock over a glass of juice?" they stared at me in surprised. "How far away were you?"

"Um… a few meters away." I contemplated.

"Oh my…" Lady Badica marvelled and turned to Martin. "This is quite a skilled student you have captured and recruited Headmaster Hunt."

"She has already sailed to the top of her combat class and with time, she will be completely up to speed with the rest of her studies. That is how capable she is," he smiled proudly at me.

"The top of her class… that's the one with Andrew, Jackson, Quinn and Daniel right?" Lord Badica asked.

"Yes." Martin confirmed.

"And she's in the same ranks as they are?"

"She is even higher." Joe cut in.

"Even higher… and at such a young age… incredible," the two Badicas eyed me with wonder.

"Now, back to what we had requested your presence for." Lady Badica reached over and took my hands in hers. "Thank you for telling us some more of the story. In truth, our daughter had already complained and argued that you had been the one who started it by insulting her first. But my husband and I have spoken to the Guardians who were on duty and they were all witnesses to the fact that it was not your fault. While there may have been a conflict between the pair of you, we all acknowledge the fact that it is normal. Even adults go through the same kinds of experiences although perhaps with more sophisticated words and methods of insulting one another directly," she smiled wryly. "You should not guilt yourself in thinking that you led her to behave in such a way. You are who you are Miss Valentine and it just so happens that you are a more respected and adored person compared to our daughter. That is not something you could have determined. It is not your fault that our daughter became overwhelmed by jealousy. Everyone has their own skills and one of yours is your adorable charm."

"Charm?" I tilted my head to the side in bewilderment. "Do I even have any?"

"Of course you do dear, when you first came in, the first thing you thought to do was to apologise to us, believing that you were partly responsible for what had happened today. You felt the need to explain that there had been conflict. We had already known that there had been a small clash between you and my daughter. I also know that she had been talking about you behind your back and it seems that there have been quite a few rumours about your family as well which is all created by my daughter."

"Oh… so that was true as well…" I trailed off in thought. So Marissa really had been the one to make all those rumours.

"Even in a rage of jealousy, that does not give her any right to talk of you in such a preposterous manner and so I apologise for my daughter's lack of etiquette and inexcusable behaviour."

"Thank you, I am grateful for the apology and am thoroughly relieved that neither of you minded that I called your daughter an ironing board." I joked lightly.

"Us Moroi women have acknowledged that we do lack in that area but most of us have accepted it. Of course, there would be those who don't accept their figure and wish for something more, my daughter being one of those people. I would not say that to be called an ironing board is a common insult, but there have been many other derivatives similar to that. You do not need to feel guilty of it."

"So far, I find that a female Moroi's figure seems to accentuate a certain graceful and subtle femininity that others cannot hope to achieve. Moroi women remind me of elegant ballet dancers." I smiled.

"If you usually speak in such a flattering and considerate fashion, I have no doubt that you will attract a lot of powerful acquaintances in the future Miss Valentine." Lady Badica laughed and smiled warmly at me in appreciation at my observation.

"Please, call me by my first name." I smiled back. "I always feel self-conscious if I am addressed with a title of any sort."

"Well then Kylie, I must say that it has been a pleasure meeting you considering the consequences. I am impressed that you managed to keep your temper and did not throttle my daughter." Lord Badica eyed me in admiration.

"I certainly thought it."

"Ah but you didn't act upon the anger that you undoubtedly felt and that is what counts. You took her insults and did not attack her. For that I am grateful. Even though I am appalled by her actions, I still wish as a father that no harm comes to my daughter and so I thank you for sparing her from any injuries."

"Well, physical injuries anyway. I am sure that I have damaged her pride on both occasions, especially the second because of the four royal's assistance during the scene."

"Hopefully, this will become a valuable lesson that she may learn from. Otherwise, she will continuously repeat the same mistakes and the next person she offends may not be as kind and level headed as you are." Lady Badica noted.

"Thank you for your compliments Lady Badica." I smiled shyly.

"They were well deserved, Kylie. If you wouldn't mind, I would like to invite you to dinner some time. I thoroughly enjoy your company and would like another opportunity for us to talk without having such a serious matter hanging over our heads."

"I would be honoured to have such a lovely invitation." I beamed. "I reckon I will be free almost anytime so simply arrange something with Headmaster and I will attend."

"Well then, I shall be calling soon once I have something arranged. I am afraid to say that we must leave to sort out further details and arrangements for Marissa." Lady Badica smiled at me and stood up with her husband.

"It has been a pleasure to meet the both of you Lord and Lady Badica." I inclined my head to show my respect to them.

"The pleasure is ours Kylie." Lord Badica shook his head and held out his hand for me to shake. I shook both their hands in turn and remained standing until they'd left.

I waited a few moments before I collapsed back onto the chair. "Man am I glad that I remembered all those lessons about manners back when I was a kid." I groaned. "That was so nerve wracking!"

"You did very well Kai, don't sweat it." Joe laughed and patted my shoulder. "When did you learn to be such a sweet and smooth talker?"

"I don't know. It just comes to me sometimes." I shrugged. "It comes with the job, that's what it is. It definitely comes with the job."

"You mean the singing one?"

"Yep, if you're a sweet talker, you can get further in the career." I grinned. "So, is that all I need to be here for?" I asked sheepishly.

"One more thing Kai." Martin stopped me with a stern tone.

"Yes?"

"You need to get that bracelet strengthened Kai."

"Excuse me?"

"Your bracelet, I could see it on your face during that confrontation after lunch. Other people may not realise but I could recognise that expression anywhere. The bracelet isn't really strong enough anymore is it? You were terrified that you were going to injure people. If the bracelet was still affective, you wouldn't have had that concern." Martin watched me carefully.

I stared at him in surprise. "You saw that?" I whispered.

"Yes Kai, and you need to sort it as soon as possible."

"I will sort it out once the secret is out with Rosette." I told him levelly. "If I managed to hold it together today, I doubt that there will be an event that would spike my temper as much as what happened today so I'll last until then."

"Kai -"

"Martin, I've got it under control." I cut him off and I felt a little guilty for having to talk back to him like this but I had to prove to them that I was a strong girl now and not the same person as I was back then. I didn't want them to have to be at my heels for the rest of my life. I needed them to see that. "I promise that at the first sign of danger, I'll go to Rosette." I told him softly.

"I will hold you to that Kai," he sighed when he realised that he wasn't going to win the fight.

"Listen, I'll see you two around. I'd better head to the elementary division before any of the kids start harassing Ali." I smiled.

"Ah yes… he wasn't very pleased that we kept quiet about you." Martin grimaced. "I got a pretty annoyed call from him threatening to beat me to a pulp the next time something like this happens regardless of the fact that I am his boss, his superior and the Headmaster of this school."

"Wow, so Ali hasn't lost his impulsive touch." I laughed. "Definitely good to know."

"Don't you go dragging him into any tricks you intend to play on people," Martin warned me with a playful tone. "He had enough of those when he was still a student."

"Well I certainly recall my fair share of incidents." I smirked at him remembering how I used to join Ali for his mischievous tricks to drive teachers insane. Any social time spent with Ali was definitely time well spent. Very well spent indeed.

"I'd better let you go before Ali thinks up any pranks against me." Martin sighed. "Have fun on your trip tomorrow. Are you sure you have enough money?"

"Martin, I have earned a six figure salary within a year based on ordinary singles alone and that's only my most recent one." I told him bluntly.

"And I have been unable to spoil you for the past six years," he retorted.

"Oh don't be silly Martin, you don't need to spoil me. I'll love you all the same." I waved my hand dismissively. "I've told you this as a prep school kid and I'll tell you this again. Even if you give me money, I'll just use it to buy you a present and not spend it for myself. I won't intentionally spend someone else's money unless its school fess or I earned it myself in some way."

"What kind of child, and more importantly teenager, rejects money?" Joe stared at me incredulously.

"I do." I stuck my tongue out at him immaturely and left the office before I got side tracked for much longer. When I got to the elementary division, I was greeted by the guardian who was in charge of guarding the small gateway which led onto the junior side of the campus.

"You must be Valentine, right?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes at me in an assessing way.

"That would be me." I nodded. "Would it be alright if I visited a couple of the kids up until their bedtime?"

"Well I'd have to say that that's not up to me to decide. I'm just here to guard the gate to check who goes in and out."

"Sort of like a gate list then?"

"Along the lines of that yes."

"How long will your shift be?"

"Until the early hours of the morning," he sighed. "I've still got another three hours to go."

"That long?" I squealed in surprise.

"The guard duty for this gate is usually four hour shifts."

"That must be so tiring and boring too…" I grimaced.

"Most of us regard this post as the unlucky one."

"I can understand why. Well then I guess that I will see you in over an hour or so when I leave. See you later Guardian…"

"Wilson. Mitch Wilson."

"Nice to meet you Guardian Wilson." I smiled politely before making my way past the gate and into the building that Guardian Wilson directed me to.

This section of the elementary division brought back so many memories. As I walked down the halls, I recognised some of the places where Ali and I had played our pranks. At one point, we had even made our mark behind one of the paintings by signing and drawing ridiculous symbols on the back. It had been a picture of Rose Hathaway if I remembered correctly and I made a mental note to search for it later.

Along the way I had no idea where I was heading at all. There was no way that I would know where to go to find Ali.

"Trace! Come back!" I heard someone holler from around the corner and a moment later a small child with black hair raced by me. On instinct I turned and wrapped my arms around his waist while easily lifting him up into my arms and supported him on my hip. At first he struggled against me when he felt someone grab him.

"Now, now Trace, are you giving the poor Guardian on duty a hard time?" I teased with a grin.

"Kylie!" he beamed in delight and instantly wrapped his arms around my neck tightly and snuggled against me. "You came back! You came back to visit us!"

"Well of course I did, I made a promise and I don't make promises I can't keep." I smiled and kissed the top of his head. "You must always remember that you should never promise something unless you know that you can keep it."

"Okay," he nodded childishly and snuggled even closer if that was even possible.

"Trace!" two Guardians rounded the corner and stopped just short of crashing into me.

"It's alright Guardians, I've got him." I smiled reassuringly at them.

"Who are you?" one of them asked with eyes narrowed in caution.

"I'm Kylie Valentine and Guardian Castile said that I was free to come back so that I could prevent this little one from running into the senior division and getting himself lost." I introduced myself. "Could you show me where Guardian Castile is by any chance?"

"Sure," the male Guardian eyed me with a small leer. I blinked in shock at what he'd just done and dismissed it for the moment. I would definitely be asking Ali about him later. "Jan, you should probably go look for the other kids who decided to play this ridiculous game of hide and seek before it gets too late. I can accompany this lady to Castile."

"Alright, but you better help out with the search as soon as you've shown her where to go," the female Guardian called Jan grumbled before walking away.

"Follow me," he told me briskly and I noticed the slight shuddering that seemed to rake through Trace. He had kept his head buried in the crook of my neck and hadn't looked up once since the Guardians appeared. I ran my hand in a soothing gesture over his back and patted his head.

"Thank you Guardian..?"

"Leighton. So why are you looking for Castile anyway?"

"The Headmaster had a message that he wanted to tell Guardian Castile. I had just seen the Headmaster and so he thought it would be easiest for me to deliver the message." I lied smoothly without a fault.

"What's the message?"

I frowned up at him. I didn't like the vibe that I got from his man and I certainly didn't like his tone as though he was entitled to know what the message was. It didn't matter whether there was a message or not, the fact that his tone was filled with arrogance had my muscles tensing in anger.

"The message is for Guardian Castile and since the Headmaster did not mention any other Guardian's names, I won't tell anyone but Guardian Castile regardless of who asks." I told him firmly.

"I doubt that the Headmaster would have something to say to him and no one else. Castile is practically a nobody as a Guardian."

"That is not for you to decide is it?" I retorted before I could stop myself.

"Excuse me?" he leered down at me again and I couldn't help but feel that the way he looked at me was incredibly inappropriate.

"I said that it's not for you to decide whether the Headmaster has something to say to Guardian Castile or not." I repeated slowly like he was some kind of a dumb idiot.

"You will watch your tone when you speak to a Guardian you snotty little bit -"

"And you will watch your language when you are in the presence of a young child." I snapped and cut him off before he could finish the word. He eyes flashed in anger and he stopped walking to glare at me.

"Just who do you think you are you fu -"

"If you can't talk without swearing then I suggest you keep your mouth shut Guardian Leighton." I glared right back at him.

"Well then how about I remove the little pest so that I can talk in any way I want?" he spat and held out his arms. "Hand him over."

I felt Trace stiffen in fear and I glared at the Guardian defiantly. "No." I stated.

"What did you just say?"

"Are you deaf?" I sneered. "I said 'No'."

"Hand him over right now, that's an order!" he thundered.

"You don't have any authority over me. I might be new here but I know that much."

"You arrogant little -"

"Watch your language." I cut him off again with a level tone filled with barely contained anger.

"You need to learn some manners," he hissed.

"You need it more than I do." I scoffed.

"How dare you treat your superiors so disrespectfully?" he roared.

"You? My superior? I don't think so." I rolled my eyes at him and stepped to the side to avoid his lunge as he tried to attack me. "Well now, not only are you foul mouthed but also violent. How on earth did you get stationed at the elementary division? You are a wretched thorn to the elementary school."

"You are nothing but a novice!" he bellowed and lunged for me again and this time I didn't let him off for it. I stepped to the side, manoeuvred around him and slammed him into the wall while restricting him arms behind his back using my free hand and a knee.

"What is going on here?" an all too familiar voice demanded with a voice filled with authority from behind me. It was a voice that I would recognise anywhere…

"This vile novice has been nothing but rude and I was just planning to teach her a lesson." Guardian Leighton spat out with his face pressed against the wall.

"It seems as though you're the one being taught the lesson Leighton," she scoffed. "Whoever you are, release the Guardian and give me your name."

"Ah! It's Guardian Belikov!" Trace squealed in delight. "We're saved from the mean man!"

"Hush now Trace, now is not the time. You wouldn't want to make the nasty man angrier than he already is." I told him and released my hold on the Guardian. He immediately tried to round on me and tried to throw a punch to my face but I ducked at the last moment, lurched forward and slammed my elbow into his stomach as I turned to face Juliet Belikov who was better known to me as my beloved aunt. "I was merely trying to defend both myself and Trace from this Guardian's advances that's all Guardian." I told her defensively. "His tone and gaze were totally inappropriate so I would suggest that he undergoes training again on how to treat others respectfully."

"Who the fu -"

I slammed my fist backwards and down and punched his privates before he could finish the sentence. He instantly began groaning and doubled over in pain as he held where I had just hit him.

"Get out of here and I want you reporting to Guardian Castile about everything that had just happened in detail. Now!" Aunty Jules commanded with a strict tone and Guardian Leighton scurried away as fast as he could possibly go in his condition. "Trace, I would like for you to return to your room for now."

"Will big sis Kylie still be allowed to visit me before I have to sleep?" he pleaded.

"It won't take long and I will allow her to see you after I am done talking to her," she nodded.

"Will you be alright on your own?" I asked with open concern as I set him on his feet.

"I have your lucky charm big sis so I'll be strong until you come," he leaned over and kissed my cheek sweetly before dashing off.

There were a few moments of silence and I stood staring at her while she assessed me in return. Aunty Jules hadn't changed all that much except the strain of being the lead Guardian of the academy seemed to have taken its toll on her over the years. Dark shadows occupied beneath her stern dark brown eyes, her long almost black hair was tied professionally into a bun at the nape of her neck and her attire was the same as most other Guardians in this academy. Complete and utterly black all over.

She stormed towards me and on instinct my palm collided with her fist as she tried to hit me. Her eyes glistened in a moment of approval before she continued to shower me with attacks. I incessantly blocked and dodged each and every one of them until she decided to stop.


	18. Chapter 17

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First to Yogibearxlover: I can't answer any of your questions so you'll have to read it to find out.

_**Now for Tasha-hater: Kylie has no immediate Moroi relatives but if you think about it from a really long distant way of thinking then maybe she does but I don't plan on making those kinds of family relations a major part of the story. The blood related family member that's going to matter is her aunt Jules Belikov. I hope that this helps ^.^ As for your other questions… well you'll have to wait and read more to find out!**_

* * *

Chapter 17

"Let's go to my office," she told me briskly and I followed her as she took long strides down the corridors. I noticed several pairs of eyes stare in surprise and curiosity as we passed them in the hallways. We arrived at her office not long after the small fight in the empty corridor and she fired her first question before I had even fully closed the door.

"How were you not out of breath?" she demanded with a slightly annoyed tone once I shut the door behind me. But it wasn't of anger; it was more like she was pouting due to frustration for not being able to punish me for worrying her so much all those years ago. Back then, her way of punishing me was kicking my ass during my training sessions but she couldn't do that so easily anymore and she had just discovered that hard fact.

"Well I barely moved, that's why." I smiled sweetly at her.

"Damn… this means I can't beat you for worrying me."

"Well you could, if I wanted to attend school with patches of blue and black all over me for the rest of the week. I'd rather not so I defended myself."

"You've improved."

"I've worked very hard for it."

"Why?"

"Huh?" Now that was a vague question. There were too many things that she could possibly want the reason for.

"Why did you have to leave? We would've taken care of you so why?" she whispered with a barely controlled voice.

"It was a foolish and selfish decision so that I could leave everything behind and start a new life where I didn't have to be wary of people wanting to befriend me because of my name." I told her in the simplest way that I could think of. "I didn't think of any consequences when I left, I just did it and by the time I fully registered what I had done, I couldn't come back anymore."

"Yes you could, we would've taken you back with open arms."

"It isn't as easy as that." I shook my head.

"And why not? Your family is here. You belong here Kai," she glared at me, finally letting her anger and frustration out.

"By the time I fully registered the fact that my disappearance would've worried a lot of people I loved, I had already built a life out there. A life that I didn't want to leave behind because it gave me a chance to flourish as who I wanted to be, not grow up as someone that everyone else wanted me to be."

"You could've done that here," she argued stubbornly.

"No I couldn't and you know it. People of the royal families will try to win my favour, others would try to take advantage of how weak I was back then and they would try to shape me into the kind of person that they wanted me to be. I would've been ruthlessly manipulated."

"We would've protected you from all of that."

"You all had duties that you couldn't neglect, I could see the kind of strain and awkward positions I would put you all in and so I took a leap and ran away. It somehow turned out a lot better than I could ever have thought it could be."

"Are you saying that you have no regrets for running away?"

"I have one and that's for worrying everyone who was and still is important to me, but that's all I'll be regretful for."

"How could you say that? You've missed so much, don't you regret that?"

"Yes, I understand that I have missed my fair share of experiences here, but I have also gained a lot that I probably wouldn't have gained if I had remained at this school. You will understand what I mean Aunty Jules."

"You have a lot of explaining to do, and I will now go and beat Martin up for keeping this quiet from me. Who does he think he is?"

"Um… the Headmaster?" I grinned cheekily and she smacked my head in a reprimanding gesture.

"Oh great, you've grown up to have an attitude, how typical," she grumbled.

"What can I say? I'm a teenager." I shrugged. "As for beating up Martin, please don't, I asked him not to tell anyone hence I'm going under this false name."

"Were you ever going to tell us you were back?" she eyed me prudently.

"Yes, I knew that it wouldn't have been fair for Martin and Joey to know about me. I just wasn't prepared yet so I was taking everything in stages. I don't think I can handle reuniting with all of you at the same time. I think the number of lectures and hits I would get for it might turn my brain into a vegetable."

"Don't be so dramatic," she rolled her eyes at me and promptly drew me in for a tight hug. "I have been worried for such a long time Kai, I am glad to see you because at least now my heart is at ease. At least… it's as at ease as it could be considering my rank as the head Guardian."

"I am glad to be able to lift a burden, however small it may be." I smiled brightly.

"You really are their child," she murmured and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "You were their greatest gift and treasure and you remain to be ours. Don't ever forget that," she told me soulfully.

"I know Aunty Jules. I know." I nodded with the smile maintaining my face.

"Now, as glad as I am to see you again Kai, what are doing over here in the elementary division? Is it because of Ali?"

"Well Ali is one of the reasons why I'm here but he's not the main one. I'm here to see Trace."

"You know him?"

"I met him today and he likes my hair so he wanted to see me again so I came back. Could I visit tomorrow as well? It'll be after my trip to the city."

"The city?"

"I'm shopping for things that I'll need like hair ties."

Aunty Jules took out a key and unlocked the bottom drawer. She took out a small safe and placed it on the table in front of me. "That belongs to you, Kai."

"What is it?"

"It's a digital code safe," she stated.

"I can see that."

"The code is your birthday. You can change it to anything you want later."

"What's in it? Why are you giving it to me?"

"You didn't stay for long enough six years ago so you weren't given what your parents left for you. We kept it for you here at the academy because it's your home."

"Isn't that risky? What if I'd been killed?"

"After your disappearance, the second person in charge of the will was me. Because of our dangerous lifestyles, there is a list of people who would take charge of the wills."

"This is something mum and dad left?" I whispered ad took the safe in my hands. I felt tears starting to gather in my eyes and I sniffed.

"We will work out a way to keep your return from the royals and the king. I'll talk it out with Martin about what to do about the will now that you're back."

"How did you know that I'd be back? Why didn't you split the will after couple of years after my disappearance?"

"Because we believed that you were still alive out there, and if you were alive, we hoped that we would find you some day."

"Thank you Aunty Jules. Thank you to all of you for believing in me." I smiled brightly.

"And since you obviously can't take any money out from your inheritance without alerting people of your return, take this much with you for now," she said as she handed me a hefty sum of cash.

I stared at her in shock and shook my head. "I've already said this to Martin. I'm not taking any of your money."

"You'll need it if you're going to go shopping Kai."

"First of all, I wouldn't need that much. Second of all, I have my own money otherwise how on earth do you think I've managed to survive all this time out there."

"You do have a point about that, how have you managed that?"

"I've had a job for the last two years"

"What job?"

"I'll let Martin tell you that when you see him." I shrugged. "I had better get going before the little kids go on another rampage."

"Alright, but we will be having another talk soon."

"I'll be expecting it." I grinned cheekily.

I gave her one last hug as she gave me directions to where Ali would probably be. She also told me that if I bumped into Leighton, I had to tell him that she was expecting him to report to her too for his unacceptable behaviour. I had to admit that I was hoping not to have to encounter him again anytime soon. I had no doubt that he would probably attempt to hit me at any chance he could get. I had only held back earlier because of having Trace in my arms, if I saw that Guardian again, I would gladly give him a thorough and humiliating defeat.

Ali glanced up when he heard someone walk into the large room filled with children on bean bags and he smiled widely when he saw me.

"Yo." I greeted them with a playful salute.

"AH! Big sister!" Pat and Jen beamed at the same time and turned around so that they could see me.

"Ah! It's the big sister that Al likes!" another kid pointed at me.

"You're the pretty sister who came today!"

"Kylie!" Trace jumped at me again and wrapped his small arms around my neck. "You were absolutely awesome just now when you beat the mean and scary Guardian."

"Well, I did say that I would do my best to protect you right? He wasn't very pleasant to meet."

"Guardian Leighton has been sent from school to school for the past few years. He hasn't been able to stay at one place for more than half a year apparently."

"I can see why." I scoffed.

"You seem to have beaten him good. Well done."

"Why was a guy like him assigned to the kiddie section? I mean seriously, bad decision there."

"It was a punishment for him. He doesn't like kids and he doesn't like me being his boss."

"Yeah, he seems to have it out for you… why is that?"

"I beat his ass on his second day here. He's had it out for me since then," he sighed.

"How long has that been?"

"About two months now I think."

"Two months of torture…" I hugged Trace protectively to me and he snuggled closer.

"Alright guys, it's time to go to bed." Ali clapped his hands together and starting rounding them up as some tried to run for it.

"Aw… but we don't want to." Jen complained.

"Yeah, big sis only got here." Pat added.

"I have permission from Guardian Belikov to come back earlier tomorrow." I told them with a grin.

"Belikov? You've see her?" Ali stared at me with concern clear in his eyes. "How are you not black and blue?"

"I dodged." I scoffed.

"You… I really have to see you in actions."

"Any time you're free Ali."

"Hey, I have an idea. If you guys agree to go to bed, big sister here will sing you all a song."

"Say what?" I squealed and shot him a glare.

"Yeah!" the kids chimed.

"You sing?" Trace asked sweetly with wonder in his eyes as he looked up at me.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" I sighed and sat down with Trace sitting on my lap. "Just one song and then you'll all have to go off to bed alright?"

"Okay," the agreed instantly.

I began to sing a tune I knew well. It was a lullaby from an cartoon show called 07 Ghost and it was one of the sweetest lullabies I knew. Slowly the kids seemed to relax and Trace sagged against me as I sang the tune. Although none of them could understand it because it was in Japanese, the tune itself seemed to do the job.

"Wow… nice job Kai. How'd you get so good?" Ali whispered as he picked up a couple of the kids who had already fallen asleep.

"With a lot of practice and the petite fact that my life pretty much depended on it."

"I don't understand."

"I'll tell you later when we have our DMC." I smiled at him.

"DMC?"

"Deep Meaningful Conversation." I grinned and gently lifted Trace up in my arms again. "Where's his room?"

"I'll take you, these three are his roommates." Ali gestured for me to follow him with his head so follow I did. "Trace's bed is the one by the window," he told me once we'd gotten into the room.

I looked around for a moment and smiled at the stars that were stuck onto the walls and ceiling of the room and they all glowed in the dark. Trace's bed was all midnight blue and on his duvet cover was a large image of the moon and various star signs.

I gently put Trace down and tucked him in. "Kylie? Are you leaving?"

"I'll be back to spend more time tomorrow." I whispered to him.

"Please don't go…" he pleaded and I faltered for a moment when I saw the desperation in his eyes.

"I will be back Trace, I promise."

"But -"

"I'll stay for a little longer but you have to sleep." I told him and sat on the floor beside his bed and held his hand.

"Through the spring and the snow, I have come home

They have showed me guidance and kindness.

Memories, drift through my, hazardous mind

They will rest in peace forever.

With dreams that will never come true,

I will live on to tomorrow.

Striving with hopes that keeps my soul

Blazing with a life that remains.

Through the spring and the snow, I will come home

They have showed me guidance and kindness

Memories, drift through my hazardous mind

They will rest in peace forever.

Voices of angels that comfort us

When we've lost a treasure we cannot find.

When we feel lost and a little afraid

We will find the answer within us.

With wings that soar, into the sky

We will live on to tomorrow.

Growing with hopes that keeps our souls

Blazing with a fire that's eternal.

Through the dreams, and the stars and with our hearts

We have gained a treasure we'll never lose.

In our hearts and our souls we've found the strength

To be free and live through the trials.

In our hearts, we'll never surrender.

You will have eternal love…"

It was a quick thing that I came up with at the top of my head. It still had the same tune as the Japanese version but instead I made our lives reflect within the song. There were several things within the song that were true. It's true that a lot of us have lost something precious, but even so, it wasn't the end. It wasn't the end because we still stood and continued to find things that are important to us.

It was true for a lot of us and certainly for me too. Although I had lost my parents, I still had my family here at this Academy. I had people who cared for me and even before the first week has gone, I'd already made friends that I felt I could really trust. Not to mention, I also had my friends outside of this vampire community that I knew I could trust and believe in.

When I looked down, I saw that Trace had remnants of tears on his cheeks and I gently wiped his cheeks so that I wouldn't wake him up. I softly kissed his forehead and tucked him in snuggly before standing up and sneaking out of the room with Ali.

"That was how you really felt wasn't it?" he asked quietly with a slightly hoarse voice.

"It was something that I just made up on the spot, well the lyrics were anyway. But yeah, it was how I felt." I nodded with a grim smile.

"That ring, it seems that you still have it," he smiled softly.

"Well of course I do, it was a present from you Ali, you worked so hard to earn the money to buy it, I wasn't going to ditch it after it wouldn't fit anymore." I shook my head vigorously.

"I meant that I was surprised you carried it around with you."

"It's one of my good luck charms."

"One of them?"

"Yeah, like my bracelet is a good luck charm."

"Kai, I wouldn't call that a good luck charm, more like a safety ensuring device that will primarily keep you safe."

"And as a result keep others around me safe too." I rolled my eyes.

"This argument could go on forever," he sighed and shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "Thanks for helping me out with the kids tonight."

"Don't worry about it, I'll be back to do the same tomorrow as well."

"You are a lifesaver," he beamed at me and ruffled my hair.

"I like these kids, they're pretty cute."

"Aren't they just? They're sometimes overly energetic, but amazing at the same time," he laughed softly.

"But that energy that they have is what makes them kids." I grinned. "Where's the kitchen? I want to make a hot chocolate before going back to the dorms."

"You're heading back already?"

"Yeah, some of the girls want to rope me into their fashion show." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair in exasperation. "I don't get it, but then again, I rarely ever do."

"And alas, that seems to be another thing that hasn't changed, although your confidence and your general appearance sure as hell have. You definitely don't seem constantly nervous anymore."

"You can't survive in the real world while living in constant fear and show it at the same time." I stated bluntly. "It'd have had me killed within a week. I had to grow a back bone and I had to do it fast and so I managed it somehow and became who I am now."

"Well, I can't say that I don't like how you've turned out. You are definitely your parents' kid," he gave me a few more glance overs which caused me to blush again.

"Eyes up Ali. Gee, I can't believe I'm being hit on by you." I grumbled.

"Well I am a knight in shining armour Kai, they are all well known for their flirtatious personalities," he winked.

"Just great." I commented sarcastically. "So how about you show me the way to the kitchen?" I urged him and gave him a light push in the back.

"You're not going to raid the kitchen and eat everything are you?" he teased.

"No actually, I'm going to make something for Guardian Wilson who's on guard duty." I pouted defensively.

"You're going to make him something? That's not fair."

"Is there something you'd like me to get for you tomorrow?"

"Hm… some chocolate and cake would be nice."

"Chocolate and cake it is then." I laughed. When I got to the kitchen, I took out various ingredients and immediately started to make some cookies. When that was nearly done, I made some hot chocolate.

"You cook?"

"As you can see, yes I can cook. Can you get me a thermal flask please?"

"If you feed me a cookie then yes."

I stared at him incredulously to find him returning my stare with a playful one. I gave a defeated sigh and held one to his lips for him to taste. "How is it?"

"Delicious."

"I have an idea, I think I'll bring some scones tomorrow as well for everyone."

"Scones?"

"Yeah, they're amazing, especially with hot chocolate!" I beamed in excitement. "You'll find out tomorrow. They're also really good with jam."

"I can't believe that you can cook without causing a disaster."

"It comes with living solo for such a long time."

"And you shouldn't have had to," he said grimly.

"I made the choice Ali, it was my decision." I whispered with a firm tone. He had to understand that there was probably nothing that he could've done to keep me at the school back then. "Don't kick yourself about something that's already happened. It's happened and I don't regret it other than the fact that I worried you guys. It was because of that opportunity that I've grown so much."

"But you've lost so much of your childhood."

"Hey, I beg to differ!" I protested. "I had a good childhood, even out there in the human world."

"You fought Strigoi."

"So? I got to play sport and do things like a normal kid. It was awesome Ali, I can't explain to you how much that aspect of human life has affected me. I wish you could've seen it."

"Now I really can't wait to have that talk," he sighed. "I guess that I'm just jealous because you seemed to have such a good time even though you were away from us."

"Hey, you all had your shares of fun too even with me gone. I might've caused worries but I have no doubt that there have been times when you've all had fun in your lives without me being there." I glared at him. "Anyway, I'd better get going before my friends kill me for being late."

"Your parents would be so proud to see you getting along with people so quickly and so well."

"You mean to say, they'll be proud that I'm no longer a shy and anti-social kid with communication issues." I scoffed. "I'll see you around Ali."

"Be safe Kai."

"Oh I will." I grinned and gave him a hug before taking a small tray with two plates of cookies, a mug of hot chocolate and a flask of hot chocolate on it. I headed to Aunty Jules office and politely knocked on the door. I shifted from foot to foot as I waited for her admittance.

"Yes?" she called and I strolled in.

"Here, don't worry you won't get food poisoning from the cookies or the hot chocolate." I told her with a grin as I placed the plate and much on her desk.

"Did you just make these?" she marvelled as she leaned down to smell the freshly baked cinnamon cookies.

"Yep. Enjoy and I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled at her before leaving the office and down the hall towards the exit of the elementary division. "Ah! Guardian Wilson." I smiled sweetly at him as I approached the small gate.

"You're Valentine right?" he smiled back at me as he saw me walk over.

"I thought that you could probably do with something nice to keep you going until the end of your shift so I hope you like these. The cookies are cinnamon and inside the flask is hot chocolate with a hint of coffee."

"You made this?"

"Yep."

"That's very kind of you Valentine," he smiled gratefully as he took the objects from my hands. "Really, that's very kind."

"Don't worry about it, if you're on guard duty again tomorrow, I'll be bringing scones and hot chocolate and jams."

"If I'm not on guard duty then I will be stationed within the building," he told me before taking a bite of the cookie. "This is good."

"Thank you." I smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow Guardian Wilson."

"I look forward to it Valentine," he chuckled and gave me a wave as I half ran back to the dorms.


	19. Chapter 18

**_To stellabella: no none of the four royals have girlfriends, they're all single. As for Ali... he's had a couple of girlfriends but all of them were relatively short relationships with no real intention of long term feelings._**

**_To littlepiggy: I really wish that I could publish a book as well! I'm pretty sure that most of the authors if not all on this website want something of theirs to be published! Now that would really be a dream come true ^.^ Also, no Ingrid's brother Tom isn't interested in Rose, one, Rose is already dead at this point so that would've been pointless, it was more of a boy's typical 'omg she's fit' kind of thing. Not to mention, pretty much all guardians and novices look up to Rose regardless of how much of a trouble maker she was._**

* * *

Chapter 18

After getting back to my own dorms, I headed straight for Els' room since that was where I suspected the other two would be. On my way up, several dhampirs stopped and talked to me about what had happened earlier that day. Most of them seemed to avoid the topic of Marissa and focused on the training that we'd had. But there were those who might've been genuinely concerned and offered their thoughts on what had happened.

Honestly, I had no idea how I felt about that. It was bad enough that I had experienced it first hand, but hearing other people express their own thoughts about the fight that had broken out, I didn't really want to hear any of it. As much as I resented Marissa for what she'd done, I still didn't want to hear others, who probably didn't fully understand the situation, badmouthing her.

Eventually I managed to reach the top floor where conversation seemed to dissipate since most people were in the common room downstairs. I headed over to the end of the corridor and tapped on Els' door.

A few seconds later the door opened and Els beamed as soon as she saw that it was me. "Kai! You're finally back!"

"How were the little kids?" Roxy called out from where she sat on the bed.

"They were hyperactive and took a while to put into bed." I laughed as I stepped into the room.

"Kai?" Els asked curiously as she sniffed me.

"Yes?"

"Why do you smell of cinnamon?"

"Because I just baked some cookies for some people." I explained.

"You baked cookies and didn't bring anything back?" Roxy complained.

"If you guys write down a list of things that you like to eat, I'll see if I ever get around to making any of it for you guys." I grinned and sat on the bed. "So, how's this going to work?"

"Well…" the three girls shared a look before turning to me with devious grins.

For the next couple of hours, almost right up to lights out, we recreated various styles and threw together random ensembles of clothes. We continuously mixed and matched between what the four of us had.

"Oh yeah, is there a theme to this party?" I asked curiously.

"Nope, it's just a party in general." Ingrid shook her head. "Meaning we can wear whatever we want."

"So I could go in my normal clothes right? In theory."

"No!" they screamed at me.

"It's a party Kai. Party means you dress up, not down!" Els stared at me in horror. "And we will find you something tomorrow."

"It was just a simple question… I wasn't really going to wear training clothes. I've been to enough parties to know what to wear."

"Did you go to a lot of them?" Roxy asked.

"I went to a fair amount of them. Being in the football team gets you places." I grinned.

"I thought you might've been a party girl at heart," she smirked.

"Hey Kai, what's life like out there?" Ingrid put the question forward somewhat shyly.

I stared at her for a long moment and tried to think of a way to explain. "I can't really describe it since everyone would find it different. For me, I have to say that the main difference is the freedom. In schools out there, instead of dhampirs training or Moroi taking magic class, they do music or sports or even both… they have a lot of clubs and random school events and most of them are pretty awesome. Then there are also the sports events which are always great. There's a lot less pressure and a different sense of danger. Even though there was the possibility of a Strigoi lurking, I didn't let it phase me because there were no Moroi and I didn't want that worry to hang over my mind constantly. Those kids out there, they have so many more options in life. It's great to be valiant and all in protecting others but the lack of choice is… well it's suffocating."

"But then again, if this is pretty much the only that we know, then it's kind of alright." Els pointed.

"But there are also those who doesn't want this life but have to go with it, right? Because they don't know anything out there. The only ones who have a choice are the Moroi." I argued.

"The Moroi can't risk it. There's a slight decline in the birth rate of dhampirs to begin with, they can't afford to have a bunch of dhampirs saying that they want to do something other than to guard them."

"Which is why it's so suffocating because humans don't have that obligation. They don't have the obligation to follow one life and one life only. I'm not saying that I don't like it here, because I do, but there are options out there and I envy those kids who still have them." I smiled sadly.

"You envy them because you had that choice torn away from you because of our society's selfish laws..." Roxy realised. "You must've wanted something else, worked so hard towards something else. I can't imagine what it'd feel like to have that ripped away."

"In a way, I chose this. If I really wanted to, I could've resisted harder but if I'd done that, then I wouldn't have gotten to know you guys which would've been a down right shame."

"You… You are such a sweet talker!" Roxy complained with a soft grin.

"We're glad to have met you too, Kai. I can't even remember what it was like without you around anymore. Life would definitely be boring." Els smiled and leaned over to give me a hug.

"Do you have a budget for the shopping tomorrow?" Ingrid asked out of the blue.

"Nope." I shook my head.

"I've been meaning to ask, but how did you manage to support yourself?"

"I got a major scholarship to a school and then I got a job at a bar type club type of place. I even have a car… my sweet baby…" I sniffed.

"You have a car?"

"Yep, I learned to drive early and passed my test on my birthday." I nodded. "But so far, I've definitely found a lot of things to stay here for. To tell you the truth, I wasn't planning on staying for graduation. But between us four, I've found a lot of things worth staying for so I've changed my mind." I smiled at them. "I mean come on; someone has to keep the popular girls in line, right?"

"You planned on dropping out?" Ingrid stared in shock. "Legends can't drop out!"

"Rose Hathaway dropped out." I pointed out.

"How did you know about that?"

"I read up on her last night since she seemed like an interesting character from history." I shrugged. The lie fell easily off my tongue. "Either way, I'm not going to drop out anymore so it's fine."

"We won't let you leave," Ingrid told me with a determined tone.

"Well you have no worries about that because I don't really don't have plans to drop out anymore." I reassured them.

"Promise?"

"Unless something diabolical happens, I won't drop out." I told them. "Are we done with this topic? It's kind of depressing."

"Let's talk about what we're going to do tomorrow!"

"Oh yeah, Maxwell and Jenson are our guards for the day."

"Oh? That's good that we got the nice Guardians."

"Definitely."

"So what time are we leaving?" I asked curiously.

"We'll have to leave a little early. Around four or so…"

"That's not too bad." I commented. "Hey Ingrid, have you ever tried having slightly curly hair?"

"I don't have curlers so no," she shook her head.

"Is there a pair of straighteners between us?"

"I do!" Roxy piped up.

"I'll curl your hair for the party on Saturday." I told Ingrid.

"You can create hairstyles?" Els stared at me incredulously.

"I'm not actually what you refer to as a fashion disaster Els. I just don't put that much effort into it every day." I shrugged. "I can't be bothered enough to care enough everyday but I do for occasions and stuff like that."

"That's good to know." Els sighed in relief. "So you are a girl after all."

"Well I would've hoped that you'd be able to tell that I was a girl just by looking at me but apparently not…" I trailed off awkwardly.

"No, no, that's not what I meant. I meant that you're really a girl in the way you dress." Els remedied instantly.

"I'm only joking." I laughed. "Don't worry about it. So… about the booze… How much do you think they'll manage to sneak through?" I asked deviously.

"There will be enough. Rest assured Kai," they laughed.

"Ah! And it'll be your first time seeing the four royals in party dress!" Roxy screamed in excitement.

"They. Are. Amazing!" Ingrid screamed. "Oh my god, they will make you feel that staying at this school with be so worth it!"

"They're that amazing?" I arched my brows at them.

"They totally are." Roxy swooned. "Those four are the gods of the Moroi community."

"Wow… now I can't wait. I thought they were pretty amazing in their training."

"Well they are, but wait until you see them dress up." Els sighed dreamily. "They'll definitely be at the party, they go to every party. There are hot boys… but then there are the gods…"

"I'll have to take your word for it then." I grinned. "I think I'm going to turn in for the night if you want any hopes of my waking up tomorrow." I told them with a yawn. "So I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"We'll come to wake you up in the morning." Ingrid smiled and they each proceeded to hug me before letting me go. I headed into my room and I collapsed onto my bed in fatigue. So much had happened today that I was out for the count, seconds after my head hit the pillow.

I wasn't sure what I was dreaming about, but I knew that I didn't want to wake up, so when my alarm beeped, I slammed my hand down on the clock. It didn't seem to stop beeping and so that led to me throwing it across the room. There was a smash and I sat up with dishevelled hair framing my face. I grumbled and ran my hand through my bright hair in frustration. That was my third alarm clock this month! I glared at the broken object across the room and fell back onto the bed, facing the ceiling. I turned my head to the side to glance at the picture of my soccer team and I thought about the upcoming game which would declare our team as the all-time champions.

Eventually, I got up and took a shower to wake myself up properly. I fumbled around my draws for a bandage and used it to hide the mark which was unique to the Ivashkov name. It was a mark that people would recognise if they saw it. It was something that was placed on each child of the Ivashkov family regardless of whether they were Moroi or dhampir because of our lack in numbers. It was a good thing that there was such a rigorous training yesterday. That way, I could use an injury as the excuse for the bandage. The mark was on my lower back to the right and it was a mark of a dull blue usually but here were the occasional times when I used magic that the mark would flare and become a bright sparkling blue colour. The way that it shimmered and gleamed with such brightness reminded me of a spell.

There was a loud knock on my door and I called out, "I'm in the bathroom!"

I heard the door open and three people walked in. "Are you relatively decent, Kai?" Els called.

"I'm wrapped up in a towel." I told them and walked back into my room.

"Is there a logical reason why there are pieces of metal on the floor around your alarm clock?" Roxy asked as I walked to my drawers for my underwear and something to change into.

"Oh! Please let us choose!" Ingrid piped up.

"If you really feel the need to." I shrugged nonchalantly and sat on my bed. For some odd reason, they immediately went for my underwear drawer and they started riffling through it.

"Okay, clear, underneath all that kickass boyish style of yours, you're definitely a girl." Els nodded approvingly as she decided to hold up several of my bras up for inspection.

"If the Moroi girls knew your size, they would kill you." Roxy smirked.

"But there is no reason why they would find out so I'm safe." I glared at her. "Is this really necessary? I mean, can't I just pick something out and just wear it. We're only going shopping."

"Yes, Kai, this is necessary." Els nodded. She seemed to pick out various things from my clothes and handed them to me. "Go change into these," she practically commanded.

I couldn't help but grin cheekily as I gave her a military salute in return. She rolled her eyes at me and slapped my back, urging me into the bathroom so that I could get changed. I put on the purple and black laced bra with matching underwear before tugging on the flower patterned lace leggings. I didn't even realise that my friends from the city had packed them for me. I wore the high waisted shorts over them and a light grey nearly white long sleeved scoop neck top which I decided to tuck into my shorts. I draped the hoodie over my shoulder as I walked back into my room and glanced at them.

"You really want me to wear this? Just for shopping?" I asked them curiously.

"Yes! You look amazing like that." Ingrid marvelled.

"Now… for the make-up." Els and Roxy grinned mischievously as they held up their bags.

"Oh no, I can do that myself. I'm not letting you doll me up again for something so trivial." I glared playfully at them and took their bags from them.

I walked back into the bathroom to blow dry my hair. As I did that, I used a round brush to brush through my hair. By the time it was completely dried, it fell in large waves over my shoulders and around my face. I swiftly applied some mascara, eye liner, eye shadow and a little lip gloss as well to complete the look.

"There? Happy now?" I sighed as I strolled back into my room again.

"Very." Els nodded in approval. "See, that didn't take that much effort, now did it? Why can't you do that every morning?"

"I can never be bothered." I pouted. "Are we ready to go get something to eat now? Or are we just going to sit here and debate over whether I should be bothered to dress up every morning or not?"

"We'll continue this conversation another time only because breakfast sounds like such a good idea." Els glared playfully at me.

I quickly put on a pair of ankle length socks and my converse. I threw my phone, purse, notebook and iPod into my shoulder bag. All the while I felt slightly odd. It didn't feel right to not have a silver stake with me while being out. I was so used to having at least one with me, that suddenly having none at all made me feel on edge.

"Kai? What's wrong?" Roxy placed her hand on my shoulder in a comforting gesture when she saw my expression.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of something." I shook my head. "Let's go before we miss breakfast."

After breakfast, the four of us chatted animatedly while waiting for Joe and Crispin to arrive and drive us to the mall.

"Are you girls ready?" Joe asked as the black SUV drove up to us.

"Yep." I nodded and the four of us got in.

The drive to the mall wasn't as long as I thought it would be and Crispin picked a spot to park on the top floor. I couldn't really understand why they did that. The only logical explanation that I could think of was that they wanted us to exercise even on our day off. I could imagine how tiring it would be to climb those stairs after the shopping with the bags that we'd probably end up with by the end of it all.

"You two are sly." I whispered to the two Guardians.

"I don't know what you mean." Joe said defiantly.

"You're going to make us walk up the stairs at the end right?" I glared at him over my shoulder.

They glanced at me before giving matching grins. "Well we're busted aren't we?"

"Completely." I scoffed.

"Oh yeah, this is for you." Joe held out an envelope to me and I eyed him suspiciously.

"It's money isn't it?" I glared at him.

"No…"

"Liar, I'm not taking it." I told him bluntly.

"It's yours," he argued.

"I don't want it." I argued back. "Take it back to whoever gave it to you."

"Just take it," he insisted.

"No." I shook my head stubbornly.

"Kai!" Ingrid yelled to me. Just as I turned and walked away, Joe slipped the envelope into my pocket. I turned to glare at him but continued to walk towards the other girls. The three of them didn't notice the small exchange and proceeded to drag me through every shop possible in the mall. Along the way I remembered to buy the chocolate that Ali had wanted and I also saw a small little device that I thought suited a certain kid quite well. It was a small projector of stars and star signs. I deliberated for a moment and stared at the object before deciding to buy it.

The first shop that I went into was Hollister. It was the shop that I frequented the most since they had the most confortable tank tops ever and their shirts were pretty amazing too. Hollister was probably my favourite shop when it came to buying tops. I bought two normal hoodies and the inside of the hoods were ridiculously soft to the touch. I also picked out a thickly knitted hoodie, two sweaters, two crop tops, three tank tops and three pairs of shorts.

Along the way I also saw various off shoulder tops and jumpers that I couldn't help but buy because they were all so comfortable and snug. Several of them were cropped short with long sleeves which meant that my midriff would show if I didn't wear something underneath it. I also bought a few more pairs of joggers and tracksuit bottoms. Considering that we would be doing the obstacle course as part of the weekly training, this meant that items were clothing were going to get ruined so it definitely wouldn't hurt to have some spares with me. I also saw a couple of cropped short shirts which I bought and two lace shirts that I knew would go well with several other things in my wardrobe.

And the dress? Well, the dress was certainly easily definable. It was almost primary red, sparkly, relatively low cut without being indecent, short length skirt that clung to my curves and flared just past the hips down to just past mid-thigh and there were spaghetti straps. If inspected closely, you could see the slight pattern of roses on the dress but that was mostly overpowered by the sparkles. Well, in my opinion it was, and according to the opinion of the other three girls, it was the dress that I would be wearing to the party on Saturday. I'd thought that it may have perhaps been a little too much but apparently, according to them, it was perfect. Because the dress was at a relatively cheap price, I didn't argue too much and obeyed Els' command of buying the dress.

As for the money that Joe slipped into my pocket, well, let's just say that I gave it to a charity that probably needed it a lot more than I did.

By the end of it all, I felt absolutely knackered and walking up six flights of stairs was definitely not on my agenda and so I formulated a little plan. The plan consisted of shoving Joe and Crispin into the small crowd of women that had gathered around the two guys. They immediately flocked around them and the four of us instantly went for the elevator. I gave the pair of them a wink and a cheeky smile along with a small wave as their both glared at me. We waited patiently by the car for them to come up.

"I can't believe you did that!" Ingrid squealed.

"I was doing those girls a good deed, those girls have been following us the whole time so it was an easy move." I shrugged.

"They're going to kill you." Roxy giggled.

"They could try."

"Valentine you are so dead!" Joe boomed but I could sense the playfulness in his tone so I wasn't too worried. Crispin on the other hand looked livid. I chose to ignore it for the moment.

"How many numbers did you guys get?" I asked bluntly with a smirk. "You have got numbers right?"

Joe managed to look sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well we both got some but Crispin got more," he admitted.

"Do you have any idea what you just did? You shouldn't have run away like that. What if you'd gotten into trouble?" Crispin demanded and stormed over so that he was standing square in front of me.

"I'd whip their ass, Ingrid would run to grab you and I'd keep said trouble at bay until you guys arrive."

"You can't 'whip their ass' as you so bluntly put it. You're completely vulnerable outside of the confines of the Academy."

"Says the guy who got his ass whooped by the girl in question." I scoffed with crossed arms. "Seriously, I do understand the gravity of the situation but I promise you, I had it under control. I've been living out of the 'confines of the Academy' for god knows how long."

"How? How can you promise that you had it under control?" Crispin demanded sternly and Joe looked like he wanted to diffuse the argument but couldn't bring himself to because he knew that ultimately, Crispin was right and had a fair argument. But Joe knew me better personally and knew that unless I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't have put the other three in danger like that. I had after staked my fair share of Strigoi and so I would've been able to handle myself and protect the girls if trouble did appear. Crispin on the other hand had absolutely no idea.

I dropped my bags, yanked out a chain that I just bought and dove at Crispin. Without another thought, I threw him to the ground, bound him with the silver chain and paralysed him within the space of ten seconds. "You were saying?" I glared menacingly down at him. "You can give me that lecture when you take me down."

"Alright Valentine, you've made your point, now let him up." Joe told me gently and placed a hand on my shoulder to calm my temper.

I unbound Crispin and released the paralysis. I stood up grumpily and picked up the bags again. Joe helped Crispin up and seemed to whisper something into his ear as he got up. A hesitant expression passed over Crispin's face but Joe clasped a hand to his shoulder and shook his head. Joe probably knew that if Crispin pushed me any further, I'd probably knock him out by accident in my fury.

"She's an undergraduate Maxwell! How can you be so calm about this? She's vulnerable!" Crispin glared at him. "Don't tell me to just leave it."

"Not here Crispin. Not here." Joe stared levelly at him. "Valentine, I want you to keep a level head and don't do that ever again."

"I'm not going to bow down for this but I am sorry for the worry that I've caused you." I told them sincerely. Crispin watched me for a moment and he gave a heavy sigh.

"Don't do it again," he warned me and patted my head.

"I can't promise anything but I'll be more considerate in the future so smooth out that frown of yours. It doesn't suit you." I told him. "So please get rid of that frown of yours before I contemplate on throwing cake in your mouth."

"I don't like cakes."

"I bet you I can make a cake that you'd like." I challenged him.

"You're welcome to try," he grumbled and unlocked the van. "Let's head back before we run into trouble."

"I agree with that, I have to get back to the kiddies or Guardian Castile will be in trouble." I smiled and dumped the bags into the boot of the van.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The journey back to the Academy was quick and somewhat strained due to the lack of conversation. As soon as we got back, I put all my bags on my bed and headed straight to the elementary division. On my way there, I passed by one of the open training grounds and I saw Drew training with Dan using magic and all. From my perspective, it was easy to see that Drew was holding back a considerable amount in the fight but even so, it was still mesmerising to watch. To see their magic thrown around like that, attack after attack, made me keep my eyes on them.

I stopped in mid step to watch them. They didn't pay attention to me for a while but then Dan seemed to collapse onto his knees and panted in exhaustion. "I'm done," he rasped and held up his hand in surrender.

"Well what'd you think about magic, Valentine?" Drew asked with a small smile when he noticed my dazed expression.

"Amazing…" I breathed and sat down beside the pair of them. "It looked so… well, magical." I grinned sheepishly at my loss for words.

"That's what it means to be at a vampire school." Dan laughed.

"It's incredible!" I beamed and thought of all the things that _I_ could do. The magic was even better than I'd remembered. "God it must be handy to have Moroi help out with the fighting and stuff."

"We've been trying to get all sorts of combinations to see what works well and what does." Dan smiled. "Damn shame you're not a Moroi."

"You want me to train with you two?" I arched my brows.

"Why not?"

"Well for one thing, you're royals."

"So? That doesn't matter. You're the prodigy who hasn't even been here for a week and has already become a legend. We're on equal grounds. Not to mention, I heard that you've met the Badicas."

"You mean Marissa's parents?"

"How did that turn out?"

"They um…" I trailed off awkwardly.

"They liked you, just admit it." Dan stated bluntly with a smirk. "We spoke to them after you did and they had a brilliant impression of you. They never would've guessed that you were entirely new to everything, including meeting Royals."

"Well, I just had to up my level with my manners. It wasn't that hard." I smiled with a small shrug.

"Either way, you did great." Dan reassured me. "How are you feeling?"

"What do you mean?" I frowned in confusion.

"You looked really pale yesterday and it was like you were in a lot of pain." Drew watched my carefully.

"What Marissa said made me feel sick and I had to keep my temper in control. That was my main focus back then." I told them stiffly with a tight smile. "If it'd been your parents, you would've been the same."

"If I was in your situation, I would've humiliated her to the point of no return and I would've demanded a full apology from her entire family." Dan scoffed. "I wouldn't have let her off so easily."

"I've humiliated her enough. I don't think I need to do any more." I grimaced.

"And that's why they like you." Drew stated.

"Excuse me?"

"The Badicas. You've charmed them more than you realise." Drew explained. To have their favour and backing is highly influential even though you have no idea about it. They might not be the main Badica family, but they have the most support. People respect the pair of them and James has made quite a name for himself and he's quite well respected as well. He's going to become the Badica family's representative in the Council."

"They're… they're that powerful?" I choked out in shock. "Oh what have I done? I really have pissed off the wrong person."

"Don't sweat it, while they love their daughter, they'd never give her any advantages just because of her name. If Marissa wants power, she has to get it herself. They won't give any authority to her unless she earns it. All in all, Marissa has no power despite being a Badica." Dan shook his head. "Besides, we've already told you, they're more than impressed about you."

"They've invited me to join them for a meal sometime… I don't want to cock up." I pointed out.

"If you didn't cock up while talking about Marissa dissing your parents, then I doubt that you'll cock up at other times." Dan reassured me. "If you managed to give such a good first impression then you'll be fine."

"I don't kn -" My sentence was cut off because my phone suddenly rang and I stared at the caller ID quizzically. I wasn't why they called me but it must've been important since it was a late Thursday afternoon for them and they probably should've been at the club working. "Sorry, I have to take this." I told Drew and Dan before answering the call. "Hello? Ana? Louise? What's wrong?"

"Kai! We're in a pinch!" Ana screamed down the phone.

"What happened?" I frowned.

"You know how there was a practice today?"

"Yes…"

"The other school turned up and everyone got into a fight. The match has been indefinitely cancelled."

"What?" I screamed. "Who the fuck started it?" I demanded furiously.

"They tried to hit on us while we cheered for our team of course. Sally got bruised."

"They laid their pathetic and filthy hands on Sal? They dared to touch someone from our school?"

"Kai what do we do? The squad is completely down trodden and no one wants to turn up to practice on Saturday. The chances are, they'll move the match to Sunday to see how it goes because it's so important."

I thought about it for a long moment and tried to calm my anger as an idea formed in my mind. "I'll be there on Saturday's practice."

"What?" everyone from both sides asked.

"I'll be there for the practice. Don't tell the team but tell them that anyone who doesn't turn up to practice will have their embarrassing moments posted on the net."

"You'll be here?" I heard the hope in her voice.

"I'll be there." I told her decisively.

"The team will be complete for the finals! We'll wait for you."

"See you on Saturday." I told them and hung up.

"You won't be there so why did you say that you will?" Drew narrowed his eyes at me.

"I will be there." I told him bluntly.

"You're going to break out?" Dan stared at me in pure shock. "You won't manage it. You may be good but even you won't manage."

"You want to bet on that?" I challenged them. "I will manage it. I never should've let the Guardians take me at such a critical time."

"You'll get in deep shit for this." Dan frowned.

"I don't care, this is more important to me."

"How can it be that important that you're willing to ruin your reputation for this?"

"You don't get it, I have to be there. I left my team at such a critical time for my team. I can't abandon them like this. I have to be there. It's the same as if I ran away in the middle of a critical fight."

"You won't manage it." Drew stated. "This place is harder to break out of than any human facility."

"I've realised that." I scoffed. "But trust me, if I say I can do something, I won't give up until I get it done." I smirked at them and something seemed to pass through Drew's eyes. I wasn't sure what that was but the surprise disappeared as quickly as it'd appeared. "I'll see you guys around. Oh and here, share these between the four of you." I threw four small boxes at them before heading off to the elementary division. The whole time I was plotting a plan that would bust me out of the Academy and before long I knew what I had to do.

"Kylie!" Trace called out and ran towards me from the gate as soon as he saw me.

"Hey kid." I smiled sweetly and lifted him onto my hip as he wrapped his arms around my neck. "I need to go to the kitchen first because I'm going to make something for everyone."

"Really?" he beamed.

"Yep." I smiled and headed straight for the kitchen. I began preparing for the different cakes and I kept in mind the cake that I was going to make Ali. It was a kind of cake but it wasn't quite. It was a fluffy and light cake made with dark chocolate and the sponge would melt almost instantly in the mouth. It wasn't too bitter but I knew that Ali didn't particularly like sweet things either. "Here, try this." I held up a small fork full of cake covered with powdered sugar to Trace.

He bit into it enthusiastically and gasped. "It's so fluffy!" he squealed.

"Do you like it?" I asked.

"I love it!" he beamed.

"Well then we should take this to everyone but let's go visit Guardian Belikov first." I smiled and he helped me carry another plate of cake. I knocked on Aunty Jules' door and waited for her call.

"Yes?"

"I've got some food for you." I smiled as I stepped into her office. "Try this, it should help you with you fatigue. See you around."

"Thank you Kylie," she smiled appreciatively at me before I left. We then went to the common room where most people were gathered for TV.

"I've got a present!" I declared and everyone turned to face the cakes.

"Ah! Big sis!" Pat squealed and dashed over.

"Alright, everyone line up if they want cake and cookies." I commanded and they listened to me instantly. The Guardians helped hand out the treats.

"Nice move Valentine." Ali whispered to me.

"Cheers, you have to try this Guardian Castile." I grinned. "I'm pretty sure you'll like it."

"Hm…" he stared at it for a moment before taking a bite. I watched as his eyes widened and he stared at me in shock. "Coffee and chocolate?"

"And pepper." I smirked. "Like it?"

"This can't be cake."

"Yes it is."

"But it melts."

"Doesn't mean that it's not cake. It's just really fluffy and light." I smiled brightly at him. "You've gotta like it right?"

"Yes little Kalster, I love it," he leaned down and discreetly nipped my ear. I squealed and stared up at him in shock.

"Did you just…" I whispered.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking," he whispered and glanced away. "Don't worry about it," he patted my head and if I didn't know any better, I would've thought that he ran away with the swift pace he had when he left so abruptly.

"Guardian Wilson, could you please hand the rest out for me? There's something I forgot to do." I asked him politely.

"Of course, thank you for the lovely cakes and scones. Glad to see that you remembered," he smiled in delight.

"How could I possibly forget?" I laughed before heading out. I headed outside to a slightly more concealed part of the building and there I found Ali kicking a few cans and I caught his fist just as he was about to punch the wall. "Ali what are you doing?"

"You should be inside Kai."

"I know something was wrong so I came to check on you." I frowned at the guarded expression that he wore.

"You shouldn't have come out, and it's dark. You should be inside where you're safe."

"What're you talking about Ali? I can take care of myself and so can you."

"I didn't mean Strigoi, Kai," he stared oddly at me and it took me several moments to figure out what was wrong.

"You're scared of what _you'll_ do aren't you?" I whispered softly in realisation.

He didn't answer, but he didn't have to. The self-blame was there, as clear as day on his expression and in his eyes. He must've been thinking about what'd happened earlier. "Ali, that was nothing, really, don't think too much about it. I was just surprised because it was unexpected."

"I still shouldn't have done it," he said stiffly. "I'm supposed to protect you, not sexually harass you."

"That was hardly harassment Ali. When you kissed me yesterday, now THAT could be classified as harassment."

"That was out of relief that you were alive and well and were right in front of me," he scoffed. "I let my man take over in that split second in the common room and I wasn't thinking rationally."

"Ali, you're a flirt, I know that and so did everyone else. It's just a habit. I don't mind it Ali. It was just a nip to my ear. Nothing more, nothing less."

"What happened to the little innocent girl who squealed at everything?"

"She grew up and accepted reality." I laughed. "Seriously Ali, I know you have a playful attitude when expressing your feelings sometimes, so don't worry about it. If you get so guilty about something like that then how're you gonna cope with this?" I leaned up and kissed his nose.

"We are going to cause so much mayhem aren't we little Kalster?"

"You bet. There's no way around it." I smirked and hugged him tightly.

"I've always wondered what'd you'd grow up to look like, you know?"

"Really? Do I meet you expectations?" I smiled cheekily.

"No Kai," he whispered with a low voice. "You've definitely surpassed them. I never would've expected you to become as confident and sociable as you are now." He gently kissed my forehead and then my eyes. "We're so proud of you for what you've achieved."

"Oh enough of the compliments Ali." I blushed and pushed away from him in embarrassment. "We should head back before they miss you."

"At the rate you're going, they'll like you more than me." Ali complained. "But I do agree that we should go back before I do something else stupid."

"Hey, I for one and honoured that you find me attractive enough Ali. I used to be really jealous about all those girlfriends of yours remember?"

"And that went on until I gave you the ring that calmed you, right? You also wanted to be my bride too."

I blushed again and turned away from him. "Yeah well I was just a kid back then. I didn't even know what that really meant."

"Your parents approved of us you know?" he told me slightly seriously but there was also a playful tone there. I couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not whatsoever.

"They did? So basically, if I were to get a husband now, it'll have to be you since you're the only one that's been approved of by Mum and Dad."

""You have a point there, guess I should get you a ring that fits then," he teased.

"You'd want to marry me?" I arched my brows. "I didn't think I was your type." I retorted playfully.

"Well you never know Kai," he smiled and pulled me towards him so that my body was pressed to his.

"Then I suppose I should tell you something first. I'm probably going to give you a headache and a heart attack really soon because there's something I have to take care of first."

"What're you talking about?" he stared cautiously down at me.

"I have some unfinished business. You'll see what I mean soon." I grinned mischievously and pulled away from his hug. "Let's head back."

I stayed at the elementary division until their bed times and then I headed back to the dorms. The thing that occupied my mind the entire time was my plan to break out of the Academy. The next afternoon, which was morning for us night school students, I called a driver that I knew really well and asked her to meet me at the airport. Then I called my pilot and asked him for the huge favour of transporting me back to LA at such short notice. He agreed with no questions asked and that made me remember why I liked him so much. Next up was breaking my plan to the girls that I was going to have to bail on the Saturday party.

"Kai! Breakfast!" Els hollered and crashed into my room.

"I have something I need to tell you three." I told them seriously.

"Oh? What is it?" Roxy asked curiously and the three of them sat on my bed waiting patiently.

"I'm going to break out of the school tonight after lessons and while everyone is at dinner so that I can make sure that my soccer team wins the finals." I told them bluntly.

"You… You're going to break out of the school?" Ingrid's eyes widened. "But you promised that you'd stay until graduation!"

"I know, and I will. I'm just bailing out for the weekend so that I can participate in the match and then I'll be coming straight back." I told them.

"That means that we'll be missing the party tomorrow…" Els trailed off with a contemplative expression.

"We?" I frowned when I noticed the term that she used.

"Well yeah, we'll be going with you of course." Els stared at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I couldn't do that to you." I frowned. "I can't get you guys in trouble as well."

"Let us handle that." Roxy rolled her eyes.

"We'll definitely go with you, if you let us tag along that is." Ingrid asked shyly.

"I… I'd be delighted to be able to show it what it's like out there." I beamed and gave all three of them a hug. "We should go to breakfast and after that I'll tell you guys my plan."

"That sounds like a good idea." Els nodded and we headed to the dining hall as though nothing was different. I did however notice Drew and Dan watching me carefully for anything changes. I merely grinned at them and refused to let anything slip.

As far as classes went, things were going according to plan. I planted various prank items in any classroom that I entered. The last thing that I needed to do was to play a minor prank on poor Martin. All that consisted of was to lock him in his office with no way out and all technology would cease to function within his office.

I led the other three girls to a side gate that I knew existed in a more deserted area of the Academy.

"How did you find this gate?" Els whispered as we approached the Guardians on duty.

"I've done my fair share of research after deciding to break out." I smirk. "Hey Mister Guardians! I have some snacks for you!" I hollered.

"Ah! Valentine!" they smiled at me, remembering me from the night before when they were on duty at the elementary division. "You just don't stop making food do you?"

"What can I say; I have one heck of a huge appetite." I shrugged.

"Well, if you have some spare then we'll be glad to help you out," they chuckled and ate the small cakes that I brought them. A few moments later, they both passed out.

"Remind me to never make you an enemy Kai." Ingrid gulped.

"Oh don't worry about it, you never will." I smiled reassuringly at her. "Do you think you can climb?"

"No problem." Roxy and Els nodded and proceeded to climb up.

"Um… Kai, I might need a little help with this…" Ingrid muttered sheepishly.

"No problem, step on my shoulders and Roxy and Els can pull you up." I smiled at her and got down into position for her to step onto my shoulders. My back pressed up against the fence and Ingrid stepped onto my leg first before stepping up onto my shoulders and she reached up for Roxy and Els. The pair of them grabbed onto her tightly and hauled her up.

"Kai?" I heard a pair of almost identical voices call out and I noticed the twins running towards us. "So Drew was right, you really were planning an escape." Jackson stared at me incredulously.

"How did you know we'd be here?" I asked them curiously.

"We didn't, but as soon as we noticed the Guardians rushing towards the Headmaster's office, we figured that something might be wrong. Not to mention, several classrooms either stink of gas or have been flooded. We figured that something might be up and it was just our luck that we caught sight of you running off." Quinn explained. "Who would've that you'd actually manage this? I guess that the other two owe us ten quid," he smirked.

"You guys betted on this?" I stared at them in surprise.

"Sure did," they grinned.

"Kai!" Dan called out as he and Drew rounded the corner and caught sight of me.

"I told you I'd manage it." I smirked at them.

"Kai, we've got to go." Roxy told me as the three girls landed on the other side of the gate.

I nodded in agreement and jumped. Using a tree as my boost up I flipped up onto the gate and glanced back.

"You wanted to know what it's like out there, right? Why don't you find out with your own eyes? You probably won't get another chance ever again." I winked at Drew.

"They'll stop you before you get too far," he told me seriously.

"Oh yeah?" I smirked. "Watch me."

* * *

_**I apologise to all the readers who were really looking forward to the school party scene and the private tutoring sessions between Kai, Dan and Drew. But I promise that there will be a party scene in a few chapters time and there will also be a small scene between Kai and Drew so look forward to it! ^.^ I hope that everyone liked this chapter and the next upload should be happening soon since I'm almost done writing it ^.^**_


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Oh yeah?" I smirked. "Watch me." With that said I dropped to the other side of the gate and ran off. It wasn't long before we reached the road and we found a car waiting for us. I walked over and gently tapped the window of the driver's seat. "Are you Mr O'Donald?"

"Are you Kylie Valentine?" he retorted and I held up my identification card. "I'll take you to the airport in time for your flight Miss Valentine," he nodded professionally and the four of us got into the car.

The drive there was quick and just as promised, Mr O'Donald got us there in time to meet my pilot on the run way. Just as we got out of the car, I saw another car swerve towards us and stop.

"You are insane!" Drew chastised as he stormed over.

"Hey, you're crazy enough to tag along though right so I guess I'm not the only insane one." I grinned.

"That was awesome! We actually got out so easily." Quinn marvelled.

"We better get going before I'm late." I ushered them towards the plane. "Thank you very much Mr O'Donald, I'll transfer the payment tonight."

"Have a safe journey Miss Valentine," he bowed before driving away.

"Kylie!" Mr Allen Ross smiled warmly as I poked my head into the captain's area.

"Hello Allen, sorry for calling you at such short notice." I smiled sweetly and kissed his cheek in greeting. Allen Ross was one of my pilots who were brilliant at making sure I got to places on time.

"No problem kid, I've gotten used to it by now. Are those your friends?" he chuckled.

"Yep, we're all present and accounted for." I nodded.

"Well then let's go," he smiled and prepared the plane for take-off. "So is anyone picking you up on the other end?"

"Yep, I've called Rosie and she said that she'll be there on time to pick me up."

"It never fails to amaze me how prepared you are," he shook his head.

"I'm actually a very disorganised person though." I grimaced.

"You may be disorganised, but when it actually matters, you make sure that you're prepared," he shrugged. "Anyway, I shan't keep you from your friends any longer."

"Thanks again Allen." I smiled and kissed his cheek before heading to the main part of the plane where all the seats were.

"How on earth did you manage to get a private plane at such short notice Kai?" Els asked in awe.

"I have a lot of connections…" I said vaguely. "Anyway, when we get there, we'll be heading straight for my flat where you guys are welcome to catch some sleep. Luckily for your guys I have a spare room which is quite big so you for guys are going to have to decide between yourselves who's going to sleep on the pull out bed and who's going to sleep in the guest room. As for you three girls, you can crash in my room."

"Will you be able to show us your car?" Ingrid screamed in excitement. "I really want to see it."

"Sure, if they haven't sold it already." I shrugged.

"You have a car?" the guys stared at me in surprise.

"Sure I do, how do you think I managed to get around places?" I arched my brows at them. "It's ridiculously inconvenient to get to school without a car."

"Can we please meet that soccer team of yours as well?" Roxy asked.

"You need to catch your sleep, but feel free to watch the evening practice. Besides, it's better if you guys wait till evening because of the sun and all that." I pointed out to the Moroi boys. "We'll be practicing till really late so you'll still be able to watch the back end of things."

"Soccer team?" Jackson and Quinn eyed me curiously.

"Yeah. I'm in a soccer team, that's the whole reason why I'm breaking the school rules like this." I smirked.

"Wow, a girl who's in a soccer team… are you any good?" Quinn asked.

"You'll be able to see tomorrow. If you guys are up for getting up in the morning and watching a match that is."

"We can manage that," the four boys nodded.

The rest of the journey fell to normal conversation and within hours we reached LA where Rosie was there on time as always to pick us all up. Unfortunately, her car couldn't take all of us so we had to get a taxi as well before the eight of us headed to my flat.

"You… Are you rich?" Roxy stared at me in wonder once they saw where I lived.

"I'm not poor." I told them simply. "Thanks a bunch Rosie, you're a life saver as always."

"Don't worry about it kid, see you around and don't go causing trouble."

"I'll try not to." I smirked and gave her a high five before she drove off. I stood up straight and saw my red convertible there. Without another thought I ran over to it and practically hugged it. "It's still here." I sniffed.

"That's your car?" the girls screamed at me.

"This is my baby." I nodded sheepishly. "Let's get upstairs before the sun starts shining brightly." I gestured towards the front door and they all followed me with wide gazes. I opened the front door and the guard smiled welcomingly at me. I gave a small wave and we took the lift to the top floor where my flat was. It was one of those flats that had two floors and I noticed with pride as their eyes marvelled at where I used to live.

"It must suck to have to move from a flat like this to the Academy…" Ingrid breathed.

"Welcome to my home." I laughed. "Do any of you want anything to drink?"

"No, we're fine," they all chorused.

"Feel free to look around then." I gestured and before any of them noticed anything, I took down any photographs of my parents that were scattered around. I hurried to my room and grabbed the photos that were in there and shoved them into a box that was under my bed. "You girls are staying in here and I'll show the boys to their room." I told them.

I proceeded to lead the guys through the flat to the guest room which was down the hall from mine and they had a joined bathroom as well. "There are some towels in the cupboard so feel free to use the shower or whatever you want. I'm going to freshen up and then head out to see how the team is doing. I'll come back at around four to pick you guys up."

"Thank you for letting us come with you." Drew told me.

"Don't sweat it, think of it as a gift. You'll probably be amazed by what you see." I winked before heading back to my own room and going straight for the shower. I took a quick one before changing into casual clothes that were still in my drawers. I then packed some tracksuits for training and I grabbed my car keys. "You guys have my number so call me if anything goes wrong. There's a spare key in the top drawer of the cabinet beside the door. Feel free to head out if you need food. Here's some money."

"Thanks Kai," the girls murmured as they rubbed their eyes in fatigue.

"Don't sweat it. Just be glad that you guys fit into my clothes. The guys aren't so lucky." I grinned.

"You have a point there," they giggled.

"I'll see you guys at four."

"See you Kai," they nodded and promptly fell asleep. I left my apartment and locked the door behind me before running down the stairs and getting into my car. Then I did something that I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to do again, I drove to school.

"Kai!" Ana and Louise screamed and hugged me before I even managed to fully get out of the car.

"Guys, dying over here." I choked out.

"Sorry, you worried us so much with that phone call of yours. I mean seriously, it was just so sudden."

"Sorry, but it's for definite I'm afraid. I'm only going to be here for the match and then I'll have to go again. I'll make sure that we have our match tomorrow. I'll call the bloody CEO of the company hosting this game if I have to."

"And that's why we have you as our captain, because you're the best!" Louise laughed and dragged me out of the car.

"Is everyone here yet?" I asked them.

"Yeah, they were too scared not to. They know how brutal you could be when it comes to threats." Ana smiled.

"Well then you guys wait at the stands while I go talk to that team of mine then." I smirked and rolled my sleeves up.

"Okay, see you in a bit."

I gave them both one more hug before heading to the boys changing rooms. I slammed the door open and stormed inside with a stern expression. I saw the entire team looking glum and none of the shouts that our coach was making was getting through to them at all.

"Oi you pussies, what the hell do you think you're doing? Man the fuck up already!" I bellowed and slammed my fist into the nearest locker. All their attention turned to me and I saw the expression on my coach's face brighten instantly at the sight of me.

"Kai!" he shouted.

"Hush for a moment please coach." I told him as politely as I could and stared at my team. "What are you guys doing? We've been training for this our entire season! You can't just crumble because of one little hurdle. What did I tell you about those?" I glared at them.

"To jump over them." Jake murmured.

"I can't hear you!" I shouted at them.

"To jump over them!" they all shouted back.

"Exactly, so get ready and head out to practice. We're winning this and we're going to trash 'em." I told them. "You can all start with three laps around the entire pitch at full sprint!" I commanded.

"Yes…"

"I can't hear you!"

"Yes captain!" they hollered back and ran out immediately.

I waited until they all left before giving a sigh and rolled my shoulders.

"It's good to see you back Kai."

"It's good to be back coach." I smiled at him. "I'll head off to get changed and be out there in two."

"Alright, see you on the pitches Kai," he nodded and smacked my back in a gesture of gratefulness before heading outside. I dashed into the girl's changing rooms, got changed and headed outside into the sun. It felt amazing to have the sun on my skin again and I couldn't help but smile at the feeling of it. I joined the rest of my team with the sprints and after that we began our warm ups with various skill based exercises. By the time lunch time came I was starving and thankfully, the girls bought and brought the food to us so that we could use as much time as possible to train. When it neared four o'clock, I excused myself and headed off to pick up the others. Because my car alone wouldn't be able to fit everyone, I asked Ana to come with me in her car.

"Kai… is that?" Ana stared in shock at the guys. I figured that she'd recognise them.

"Yeah, don't worry, they're actually alright. They just got a little too drunk that night and thought that you guys were giving consent as well. None of you were in the right frame of mind that night." I whispered to her. "Don't worry about it. I'll explain more about it later."

"Okay…" she nodded slowly.

"Um… Els, Roxy and Ingrid, meet Ana. Do you guys mind going in her car? I'll take the guys." I asked them.

"No problem, nice to meet you Ana. We go to the same school as Kai." Els smiled sweetly at her.

"Nice to meet you too. You'll be seeing a true pro tonight." Ana grinned.

"Ana!" I protested.

"It's true and you know it," she scoffed. "Let's head back before you miss out on any more training."

"See you back at school." I nodded and got into my car. Drew sat shotgun while the other three sat at the back. It was slightly amusing to see them somewhat squished in the back seats like that and I couldn't help but grin.

"So you're a pro?" Dan asked with a crooked smile.

"Not really, I just have an unfair advantage being a dhampir, that's all." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Hey, I've just noticed something." Quinn grinned.

"What?" I frowned in confusion.

"You feel embarrassed whenever someone compliments you," he stated with a smirk and leaned forward to rest his head on my shoulder.

"Do not!" I protested instantly.

"You do, you're embarrassed now," he laughed and leaned back in the seat.

"Well maybe you should stop teasing me before I decide to chuck you out of my car." I huffed and glared at him through the rear view mirror.

"Aw Quinn, what've you done? You've made little miss prodigy mad." Dan punched him playfully.

"Enough with the embarrassing nickname already and don't call me that in front of my team. They'll never let me hear the end of it otherwise." I sighed. "By the way, do any of you know how to play soccer at all?"

"Sure we do, you kick a ball around and to win you have to get as many goals as possible right?" Jackson shrugged.

"If you guys ever consider playing a proper game, you would get thrashed with a mind-set like that." I smirked. "Oh, and welcome to Rokfurd High." I told them as I pulled up into a space in the school car park.

"This is your school?" Quinn frowned quizzically. "It's not very big."

"Considering it's only a day school and doesn't require intense guarding or training grounds, it's sufficient for the purpose of an ordinary high school." I scoffed. "If you compare it to a vampire school, of course it's going to seem small."

"You do have a point."

"Feel free to sit anywhere you want on the stands and try to refrain from flirting too much with the cheerleaders. Most of them will offer you anything you ask even without you using compulsion if you give them the wrong idea." I warned them.

"Oh? So the stereotypical idea of cheerleaders being sluts is true?"

"For a lot of them, yes." I nodded.

"So are they like Marissa then?"

"Nearly, but not as bitchy or daring in their attacks on girls that they don't particularly like." I shrugged.

"What about you? Do they attack you?"

"Nope, I get along with them alright even though I don't agree with their bitchiness. They listen to what I say most of the time, but that's probably because I'm the captain." I explained. "I'll see you guys in a bit." I told them after I showed them to the stands and I noticed that the team had split into two smaller ones in order to have a smaller sized game. I vaulted over the small barrier separating the stands and the pitch and stepped over to the coach.

"Aw coach, that's mean, you started the game without me."

"Sorry sweet heart but you took too long," he shrugged with a playful smile. "Now that you're here, get on pitch and get practicing."

"Got it coach." I winked and took my usual position as striker.

Four hours later we decided to call it a night and most people headed home for a needed rest for tomorrow's big game. Thankfully the coach managed to make sure that the game would go on tomorrow. I decided to stay behind to practice a little more and the coach hesitated for a moment before giving me permission.

"Don't stay for too late though, take some rest Kai. I know that this means more to you than anyone else but even you need your rest," he warned me.

"I know coach, I'll leave soon, I promise." I smiled.

"Thank you kid, for coming back at such short notice."

"I wouldn't want it any other way."

"See you at the stadium tomorrow then, don't be late. We all know you have a horrible habit of turning up at the last minute."

"I'll try not to." I laughed. "See you tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight Kai," he nodded and left. I let out a heavy sigh and stared up at the stars.

"So the others have been caught by the Guardians huh?" I asked Drew as he walked up behind me.

"They're making sure that the Guardians don't interrupt this for you. After your efforts of getting here and watching you today, we can all see how important this is."

"Thanks."

"Guardian Castile is the one doing most of the persuading to let you stay so you better thank him when you see him."

"Guardian Castile?" I stared at him in surprise. "So that's why they knew where to go so quickly." I sighed in realisation. It seemed that the tip that I gave Ali the other night helped after all. He managed to work out where I'd be and that was what mattered. I had no doubt that when I got back to the Academy, the others would give me a thorough shout and chastise but I would deal with that when the time came. For the moment, what was more important was the match tomorrow.

"How did you know that they'd already been caught?"

"I figured that the Academy would have a lot of connections so getting here wouldn't have been hard. That and the fact that I've been watching my back for a long time now so I know when I'm being watched." I explained. "I noticed them about ten minutes ago."

"You're observant."

"I had to be to survive in the world. Hey, I have an idea, why don't we have a few kicks?" I suggested.

"What?" he stared at me in surprise.

"Well you guys said that you'd kicked the ball a few times right? Or is there something else that you guys actually can't do."

"I have a good control with the direction of the ball but I can't do anything fancy like you guys could. I can see why you said that we'd get thrashed."

"Well, you guys can't help it if you suck since none of you had the proper training that we have." I teased and tossed the ball at him. "Why don't you try shooting a few shots and I'll play keeper."

"But aren't you a striker?"

"The best players are those who can play more than one role Ozera." I winked and rubbed my hands together as I walked to the goal. "I'll give you five shots, try and get one past me."

"You have to promise not to laugh Valentine."

"I promise." I nodded. "Now stop being such a wimp and take a shot already. We'll have a game of penalty shootout, surely you know how to play that?"

"It wouldn't take a genius to work it out even if I didn't," he scoffed and took his first shot. And so he spent the next ten minutes trying to get one shot past me only to fail each time.

"It's not easy is it?" I smirked.

"How have you anticipated where each shot is going to go?" he growled in frustration.

"Well for one thing, I've played this game for much longer than you have and I specialise in it. Secondly, it's similar to fighting someone, if you know what to watch out for, you can tell by the movement of the body. Why don't I teach you a few tricks while I'm at it?"

"This is just down right bizarre for a girl to be instructing a guy on how to play soccer."

"Just don't think of me as a girl and it'll be fine." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"That's not possible," he rolled his eyes and passed the ball to me.

"Really? I didn't think that I affected you." I arched my brows as I passed the ball back to him.

"I'd have to be gay to not be affected."

"Is that even classified as a compliment?"

"Who knows?" he smirked.

For the next hour I taught Drew various basic skills and I had to admit that he picked it up pretty quickly. If he had been raised in the human world, he definitely would've been great at soccer. I drove him back to my flat and I was surprised to see a lack of people.

"Ozera, where are the others?" I frowned.

"They're being held captive at the hotel and I blackmailed the Guardians to let me stay with you. They didn't want you being on your own so they allowed it."

"I've been living on my own for the past six years, I would've been fine."

"Well either way, you're stuck with me around. Or will that be a problem for you?" he teased as he stood closer to me than necessary.

"Problem? Nah." I dismissed with a wave of my hand and pushed him back a step. "Besides, there's no way you'd try anything on me with the Guardians watching us like hawks."

He seemed surprised for a moment before chuckling. "I should've guessed that you'd notice them."

"I've probably been watching my own back more than any of you guys have so don't even bother underestimating me." I scoffed. "You should probably try to get some form of sleep if you have any hopes of staying up tomorrow for the game and the after party."

"After party?"

"We'll definitely win tomorrow's game Ozera. We won't have it any other way, especially since we're up against those jerks."

"You all seem to hold a serious grudge against them, why is that?"

"Do you want a drink?" I offered as I rummaged through my fridge.

"Some coke would be good," he nodded. I walked out of the kitchen and tossed him the can of coke. I paused for a short moment when I saw him perched on the sofa like it was his own. Seeing him like that seemed to make my heart skip a beat for some reason and I blamed it on his damn good looks and his heritage as a vampire. It was late and I didn't have any sleep unlike the others did. My defences were definitely not as strong as they could be. Well, at least, that was my excuse. But I knew that there was something more than that. There was something about Drew Ozera that seemed to weaken my defences.

"Something wrong?" he tilted his head to the side and I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

I headed over to the opposite sofa chair and sat with my ankles crossed on the chair and one knees was brought up to my chest so that I could rest my arm on it. I took a few gulps of coke and noticed that he seemed to be watching me somewhat intensely. It was as though he was observing me and the surroundings around me. The moonlight bathed the room with a silvery sheen and I let out a sigh as I relaxed into the chair more. I hadn't bothered to turn the lights on and there was no need since the moonlight was sufficient enough.

"You know, you avoided my question again," he smiled wryly.

"I did?" I arched my brows in mock innocence.

9


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Why do you seem to hold such a grudge against the other team? I've heard of rivalry but yours seem somewhat personal."

"It seems like it because it is." I told him simply with a scornful tone.

"Am I going to have to ask a question each time just to get one sentence out or do you want to talk about it?" he asked and his tone was a mixture of seriousness and playfulness.

"I'm alright about telling the story but you have to make sure you don't mention it to anyone on my team, especially not Tyce."

"Tyce as in the second striker?"

"Yeah, him. He doesn't seem it, but that's guy's actually really sensitive and he's also bi but more on the gay side than straight."

"That guy's gay?" Drew's eyes widened in surprise. "I never would've guessed."

"Precisely my point. Tyce is really sensitive about it and he won't talk about it to anyone but me because of something that happened to him at his previous school which also happens to be the one that we're playing against tomorrow." I sighed. "Tyce used to be on their soccer team, but a year and a half ago, his sexuality got found out and they practically bullied him out of the school. He was suffering and he was also kicked off of the team at that school because the coach didn't want a gay guy to be in it. Their coach is just as narrow minded as the rest of the team and that school has the worst reputation for their advantage taking guys."

"Advantage taking?"

"Arrogant, obnoxious, impossible to stand and just total dicks in general." I grumbled. "We'd played their school for practice matches on several occasions and during one game, I noticed that Tyce wasn't there anymore. So I asked their players where he was. They told me that they kicked him off of a team while they were laughing. Once I'd found out why they kicked him off of the team, I was furious and I punched their coach."

"That sounds just like something you'd do," he chuckled.

"Shut up." I huffed in embarrassment. "Anyway, I got suspended for a few days and during that time, I sought out Tyce and persuaded him to join our school and team instead. He was a good player and I knew that he had a passion for soccer. Our coach knew it as well so he backed me up and recruited Tyce. Our team took a couple of days to accept Tyce but they never dared to bully him about it because of me being around. Soon enough they just let it slide because Tyce is a great guy and a great contribution to the team. It didn't matter that he liked guys, he wasn't sneaky about it and it wasn't like he checked any of the guys out or anything in a gross way. We've gotten to the point where there'd be times when we'd occasionally joke about it but it was a friendly banter type of way. Our team is pretty accepting."

"They'd have to be considering they have a girl as their captain."

"You have a point there." I grinned wryly.

"That must have been an awful time for him, being kicked out because of his sexuality I mean."

"Yeah, Tyce took it pretty hard and he got into a few fights outside of school as well." I sighed. "Now, whenever we play against Carlton High, they always make snide comments to try and get our tempers flaring. And not to brag, but our school also have the most attractive bunch of girls on our cheer squad."

"Well I have to agree on that I think."

"Any of them catch your eye?"

"No, it just surprised me, that's all," he shrugged nonchalantly.

"So yeah, even you agree that they're gorgeous, and that brought a lot of male attention from all soccer teams but the guys from Carlton High are the only ones who've put their filthy hands on our girls. I might have said that they'd be glad to offer themselves, but even they have their limits and they all know that Carlton High is bad news."

"So all in all, they're a disgraceful school."

"They also rarely play by the rules. They pay people and the referees to guarantee their wins. That soccer team is the most corrupt I've ever encountered and they play really rough. No one ever has any hope of playing a clean game if they're involved." I sighed and took another mouthful of coke. "They also hate and look down on the fact that there is a school that has a female soccer captain. They think that it's a joke."

"What about other schools?"

"Other schools thought so too, until they played a game against us." I smirked proudly.

"Ah, so we've hit the pride," he laughed.

"I love my soccer team and I'm not going to let Carlton High bring them down with their filthy tactics. We're going to wipe their smirks off their faces for sure and make them regret everything they've done against our school." I declared. "I need to put the faith back into my team before I leave again. Thanks to the combination of my sudden departure and the cancellation of the game, their spirits have plummeted."

"You'll win the game."

"What?" I blinked at him in surprise.

"You'll win that game tomorrow," he told me seriously. "Because that's just how you are. If they have you as their captain, there's no way they'll lose no matter what dirty tricks the other school tries to use. And don't forget, you have one heck of a group of supporters behind you."

I blinked at him for a few moments before a soft smile spread across my face. I stood up from my chair and walked towards him. I leaned down, tucked my hair behind my ear with one hand and kissed him gently on the cheek. "Thank you for your trust." I whispered into his ear before straightening up and patting his shoulder. "I'm going to get some sleep or else I'll pass out on the field. Now that would be bad." I smirked.

"Goodnight Valentine," he told me with a smile.

I threw the empty can into the recycling bin before taking a quick shower to get the mud and dirt off my skin before getting into bed. I could vaguely hear the soft voices emitting from the TV and that was what I fell asleep to.

The next morning my alarm rang and I sat up dozily whilst rubbing my eye with one hand and ruffling my hair with the other. I yawned and stared at the time for a moment before putting on the radio. Eventually I got up and headed for the shower. After that, I got changed into my kit except for the team shirt which was with the coach. When I heard no movement coming from Drew's room, I knocked on the door loudly and I heard the slight rustling of bed sheets.

"Oi Ozera, if you're not up and ready and out of the room within twenty minutes, I'm leaving without you." I called out and headed into the kitchen to make something to eat. Thankfully, because I'd told Ana and Louise that I would be back for the weekend, they made sure to have food in my fridge. I fried some eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes as my breakfast and fifteen minutes later, Drew stumbled into the kitchen looking a little grumpy and his hair was still dripping slightly from the shower that he just had. Despite looking so tired, I noticed with amusement that his clothes were still impeccable and somewhat neat. "Do you want something to eat?"

"I'll just have coffee," he shook his head and headed to the counter to make it. He didn't sit down and seemed to settle for leaning against the counter instead while he waited.

"Did you sleep well?"

"That bed was much better than the school ones. But I guess that it's to be expected considering how rich you must be," he yawned.

"I'm not that rich… probably…" I drifted off lamely.

"That was a terrible attempt to lie," he chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "How did you sleep? You didn't have a nightmare did you?"

"No, I didn't. Thanks for asking." I smiled appreciatively. I quickly washed everything that was used and left it out to dry. "You ready to see a brutal game of 'who's the best'?" I asked cheekily as I picked up my keys.

"It'll be interesting to watch I reckon," he nodded and he followed me out of the flat. I made sure to lock up and I drove with record speed without breaking any rules to the stadium where our game was being held. I made sure that Drew was picked up by a Guardian before heading off to my team.

"Well if it isn't the chick of Rokfurd High?" a voice sneered as both teams walked through the corridor which was separated by a short barrier.

"If it isn't the dickless tools of Carlton High?" I retorted with an equally nasty voice.

"Why you -!" he raised his fist and I caught it firmly in my palm before he could hit me.

"I'd be careful Pete, one hit is all it'll take for this game to be cancelled permanently which would certainly be a shame. I'm looking forward to humiliating you guys once and for all."

He yanked his fist back and shot me a dirty look before his entire team stormed out of the corridor onto the playing field.

"Well, this is it guys. It's time to kick their asses." I told my team with a determined voice. "Let's show everyone just who's better."

"We'll show them who has the last laugh in the end." Tyce nodded in agreement with scorn in his eyes.

"They're going to regret everything they've done." I whispered to him as I clamped my hand on his shoulder.

"I know they will Kai, thanks for always having my back."

"My pleasure." I smiled softly and when the doors opened once again, we took that as our cue to go out onto the field. The cheers and screams that filled the stadium was almost deafening and we started off with our warm ups which included running, stretches and passing the ball around before moving on to more complicated drills.

Ten minutes later, the real game began and just as we'd all anticipated, Carlton High definitely was not playing by the rules. Not fully. And from the biased way that the referee was judging, it was clear that Carlton High had once again paid them to ignore their rule breaking. Of course, our school was better trained and despite the rough way the opposition played, we still had the upper hand. By half time we were at a draw of 3-3. And by half time, we were also down by two players because of injuries.

"Kai, are you okay?" Tyce asked worriedly as he inspected my arm which was nearly snapped had I not managed to avoid the worst of the blow.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch." I reassured him.

"But -"

"Tyce, keep your mind on the game and not on my injuries. I'm fine." I told him sternly. "Those bastards have no hope of bringing me down."

"Be safe Kai, I don't want anything to happen to you," he told me seriously and took my face gently in his hands.

"I've told you Tyce, I'm one heck of a toughie." I smiled and tugged his head down to kiss his lips gently in reassurance. I wasn't sure how nor why, but Tyce and I had somehow reached some kind of a friendship that included kisses on occasion like this. It was our way of seeking comfort during difficult times and Tyce certainly needed to know that I was fine. Although I said that, I knew that I would have to take it easy with my arm once I returned to the Academy. Anything strenuous would definitely cause my arm to fracture and that would not be a good idea.

"Kai?" I turned my head to see Quinn stare at me with wide eyes. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Don't worry about it, Tyce was just being a worry wart." I teased my teammate and he blushed. "Tyce, meet Quinn, he's alright."

"We'll see you back on the field." Tyce nodded and gave Quinn a grin in greeting before heading out.

"Are you two… um… involved?" Quinn asked awkwardly.

"Me and Tyce? Nah."

"But you just kissed, or are you one of those girls?"

"No Quinn, I'm not a slut." I rolled my eyes. "Tyce is a different and complicated case. It was a kiss of reassurance, nothing more, nothing less." I shrugged. "So what's up? Shouldn't you be up in the stands?"

"I thought I'd come to offer some help. We all saw that attack on you which definitely should've been a foul."

"It can't be helped. Carlton High is full of cheaters." I shrugged again.

"Well, this should make the injury ache a little less," he said and knelt down in front of me as he held his hands over my arm. I felt something wet along my skin and I noticed that he was using magic to sooth the injury.

"Quinn!" I pulled my arm back in surprise.

"It's fine, the Guardians approved of it," he smiled and took my arm again. A few moments later, I could barely feel the pain.

"Thanks." I smiled gratefully as I flexed my shoulders. "I have to go."

"Be careful out there."

"The game is just starting Quinn, everything is down to the second half and the final quarter." I winked and dashed out onto the field again.

As I'd predicted, the game really did pick up. The violence spiralled up another level and yet neither of the two referees called any of it. Another member of our team had to be sent off of the pitch because of an injury and we only had one reserve left who would be remotely good enough to play against Carlton High. Just as we were down to the last twenty minutes there was another injury and we were stumped. I finally realised their plan and I cursed under my breath several times. They were trying to knock down our numbers to the point that there had to be a forfeit.

I warned everyone that they had to avoid heavy injuries no matter what, even if it meant losing the ball to the other team. By the final fifteen minutes I made an instinctive move and saved Tyce before they could snap his leg. I made the decision of tackling my own teammate and I got into the middle of the crash. I cried out in pain as I felt the impact of the soccer boots colliding into my calf.

"Kai!" Tyce shouted and this time the referee had no choice but to call it as my coach instantly ran onto the field towards me as did a couple of the Guardians.

"Kai!" Ali called out and inspected my leg.

"Get off of the pitch!" I shouted at him and shoved him away.

"Kai, you need to get to the doctors."

"Didn't you hear me the first time? Get off of the freakin' pitch!" I growled at him and for the moment it didn't matter to me that he was my childhood friend. What mattered the most right now was the game and I didn't care for anything else. I was taken to the side of the field where people fawned over my injury. "Coach, give me a bottle of disinfectant and some bandages!"

"Here," he handed them over to me efficiently. I rolled down my sock and without another thought poured the disinfectant over the injury. It was a horrible gash but because of my dhampir heritage, I was tougher than an ordinary human and that saved my leg.

"You see, this is why girls shouldn't be allowed to play soccer, you should just quit while you're ahead little Kylie." Pete sneered down at me and roughly grabbed my chin with his hand.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Tyce growled and shoved him away roughly.

"Wow, to think that the faggot has turned straight, you must be good in bed Kylie. Shame you don't go to our school." Pete said loud enough for his team to hear and they all laughed with him.

"You -!"

"Tyce!" I commanded and he froze before he could hit Pete. "Don't let him win again." I stared at him levelly. The coach helped me wrap the bandage tightly around my leg and I forced myself to stand.

"Kai, you should sit out, we'll forfeit this," the coach whispered.

"No." I hissed through gritted teeth. "We'll win this, we got this far, we'll definitely win this." I told him.

"I'm quitting this game; you have to go to the nurse Kai!" Tyce growled and tried to pick me up but I smacked his hands away.

"Are you just going to run away?" I shouted at him. "You're just going to crawl back into that pathetic hole of yours?"

"Kai, your wellbeing is more important than -"

"There is a time when a man should swallow their pride and just concede but this isn't one of them." I glared at him. "You walk away right now and you'll just be showing them how weak you are. Show them that you're no longer the same person Tyce. We didn't accept you onto our team for being a loser who'd turn his back on us at the last moment. We let you onto the team because of your skills and your determination to kick their ass. So get that ass of yours back here and let's continue with the game!"

Tyce watched me with pained eyes for a moment and I simply glared at him. Both of us refused to back down for a moment before his passion for the game set back into his eyes and he let out a heavy sigh. "You are so troublesome," he groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

"You're just as bad." I scoffed and held out my fist.

He stared at me for a moment before knocking his fist to mine and before we withdrew, the rest of our team knocked their fists into the middle and we all had stupid grins on our faces.

"We've got your back Kai so don't push yourself over the edge, captain," left wing Drake winked at me.

"Alright everyone, we can't afford to have any more injuries so you better all remain on field until the end!" I commanded.

"Yes captain!" they all hollered before running back onto the field. As I walked back to the centre of the field, I gestured at the cheer squad and they all turned their attention to me.

"Hey Cher!"

"How're you holding up Kai?" she called back.

"I'm good but hoping to go out with a bang. Do you remember what we talked about before?"

"You mean 'Countdown'?"

"Yeah, that!"

"Alright, but you better make sure you are able to go to the after party at the end of the game!"

"You can count on it." I smirked at her with a wink.

Cher proceeded to call on the necessary people required for tactic 'Countdown' which included Rokfurd High's prided cheer squad, instrumental band and singers. Tactic Countdown was something that helped us take awareness of the time we had left and there were three songs involved for this game: 3 by Britney Spears, Gives You Hell by the All-American Rejects and finally Express from Burlesque by Christina Aguilera.

As soon as my team saw and heard the beginning of the song, they all stared at me in shock before determined smirks covered each of their faces.

"You know Pete, you're so going down. You're going to wish that you never messed with us." I smirked at him. "If you thought that our school was hot before, you've got another thing coming."

As soon as the whistle blew for the start of the game, I passed the ball and before Pete could go forward, I blocked his way and a second later Tyce pressed up against my back which affectively sandwiched me between the two guys. In Pete's moment of shock, I slipped past him and dashed straight for the ball. Before the song was up, we scored two goals.

"That was dirty." Pete licked his lips with a leering smile as he watched the way my hips slide from side to side to distract him.

"Well, I just thought that it was about time we played on the same level." I winked with a mocking grin. "You'll love the next song."

By the end of the second song we got another goal and now we were winning by two goals. When 'Express' came on, the ball was back to the centre and I upped the game even more with my distraction by swaying even more to the song with its somewhat erotic tune and I even let my hair down. Instead of facing the opponent like I usually did, I faced my team and bent down sensually with my butt in the air and I clicked in time with the music to tell my team how many more goals we had to get. After clicking twice, I swiftly passed the ball and it took a moment for the other team to respond because a lot of them had been distracted by both our cheerleaders and myself in the centre of the field.

"That was some dirty swaying you had going there." Pete whispered gruffly into my ear as he grabbed my waist from behind. "Even so, you're still going down Kylie."

"Well now Pete, I think I'm going to agree with you for once." I smirked and shimmied down his body before stealthily spinning around him and running for the opposition's goal. I ignored the ball because I had faith in my team to get it there in time and I was right. Time was running out and there was one more goal to get. When the whistle rang through the pitch once more to signify the start of the two minutes extra time, I threw my top off knowing that those who weren't expecting it would most likely look. Of course, I was wearing a tank top version of our team shirt underneath and my team knew that. The reaction time of the opposition was reduced by nearly twenty seconds and that was what mattered. For this last move, every team member moved forward, including the keeper. The opposition's defence was always the strongest in the final moments and this game was no different.

I knew that Rokfurd High's team was more disciplined compared to the other team regardless of the number of people within a small area and we used that to our advantage. Carlton High was in total shambles by now and desperate to try and get at least one more goal in to make their defeat less humiliating. The final move was down to me as the striker, the opposition's keeper and Tyce. The ball was passed into the massive empty space between the keeper and I and the both of us instantly ran for it.

Instead of heading for the ball however, I headed for the keeper. At the last second before we collided, I turned my back on him and caught the ball first. His back was entirely defenceless and with my left foot I kicked the ball to the right corner of the goal. It wasn't going to go in and everyone knew that. The opposition simply laughed and the keeper did too. At least, that was until they finally noticed Tyce who chipped the ball with a slide tackle.

This move was one that required speed and above all, trust. I had to believe that Tyce would get there in time no matter what. Not to mention, it would've been easy enough for Tyce to accidently miss the ball if he was using a slide tackle as the final attack. Also, this attack required all attention to be drawn to me, in doing so, they would naturally miss the fact that there was another attacker heading to the goal. If they hadn't been completely fixated on me at first, the attack wouldn't have worked as well as it did. But we'd practiced this and we trusted each other's skills. And that was how we won.

8


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"No way…" the keeper whispered in disbelief.

"We won!" I screamed and threw my arms into the air. "Try to cheat your way out of this loss now!" I dared Pete as he collapsed onto his knees. There was a very specific reason why we couldn't just win by one goal. There've been times when close ties between the two teams have been tampered with and Carlton High would somehow be deemed the winner. But with a loss of four goals, there was no way they could cheat out of this.

"Kai! We did it!" Tyce bellowed and grabbed me into a hug before giving me a smacking kiss on the lips.

"We won!" I screamed again.

"Three cheers for Rokfurd High's best captain ever!" the coach bellowed and the cheers proceeded from a mass crowd of people around me. "Well done Kylie, couldn't have done it without you kiddo."

"Cheers for taking that risk all those years ago and letting me on your team coach." I smiled. "And hey, give it up for the preview of the upcoming school production of Burlesque!" I cheered and jumped up in glee. I was so happy that I almost forgot about my leg injury so when I landed again, I squealed in pain and collapsed.

"Right, now we're definitely going to see the doctors." Tyce stated and was about to pick me up when Drew was all of a sudden there and I was in his arms before anyone else could pick me up.

"Ozera! When did you get onto the field?"

"I'm hurt that you didn't notice me," he smirked down at me and his face was so close to mine, I could feel his breath fanning my face. "Congratulations on your glamorous show and win Kylie," he whispered and gave a gentle kiss on my forehead which caused me to blush. Looking around, it seemed that only Tyce noticed the small interaction and Tyce gave me an encouraging wink.

"Kylie!" I heard an all too familiar female demanding voice shout and I watched in surprise as my manager and Juan ran towards me.

"Ms. Manager!" I beamed.

"That was brilliant Kylie! You really showed those boys. Real sexy and skilled," she winked. "And who's the gentleman carrying you Kylie?"

"Oh! Ms. Manager, meet Drew Ozera, he's a new school friend who tagged along to give me support for the game."

"Chica, it is good to see that you are still kicking and screaming. When I saw those boys collide into you, I swear my heart stopped at the thought of you never being able to play soccer ever again." Juan clamped my hand over his chest and I could feel the erratic heartbeat.

"Oh Juan, I'm sorry." I smiled.

"I'll let the boy take you to get that leg treated. Don't forget to head to the club for the after party tonight."

"Pfft, there's no way I'd miss it Juan." I rolled my eyes. "It'll be the most important party after all. We finally thrashed Carlton!"

"We're proud of you chica," he chuckled and kissed my forehead.

"Thanks Juan." I smiled softly and blew him a kiss as Drew walked away from the two adults towards the side of the field.

The nurse cleansed my leg once more and put a cast on my leg but thankfully I could still walk on my own. It was a little uncomfortable but it was okay. Getting an injury was definitely worth saving Tyce's leg from possible permanent damage.

"Why did you do that?" Drew asked me as we walked over to my car.

"Do what?" I arched my brows in confusion.

"Save Tyce. That attack wasn't aimed for you, and yet you took it."

"Ozera, I'm a dhampir, Tyce is a human. You do the math."

"Would that attack have really been that fatal?"

"To a human's leg? Yes." I nodded. "And even if it wasn't, it's better if I took the blow. There are healers at the Academy after all so it could be healed, but for Tyce? He'd have to heal naturally and that would take months. I want to leave with everyone in high confidence Ozera."

Drew stared at me for a moment before a smile spread across his face. "We should probably get going. The others are going to be waiting at the flat."

"They are?"

"The Guardians are going to be nice. They've realised that they can't take the star away from the party after all."

"Oh, right…" I blushed again and realised one issue.

"I'll drive, you sit shotgun. You can't drive with that leg of yours right?"

"If you crash my baby, I will kill you." I glared at him playfully but threw him the keys and walked to the passenger side of the car.

As soon as I set foot into the apartment, several party bangers went off and cheers echoed throughout the entire flat. "You were amazing Kai!" the girls screamed and hugged me before I even managed to walk through the door.

"There's something wrong with this picture, I'm being attacked in my own home." I joked and detangled myself from Els, Roxy and Ingrid.

"You really are a legend! You're going to leave a legacy in two schools Kai, that's pretty amazing." Els teased as she pushed me into my own apartment.

"I have to say Valentine that that was impressive. Your dedication to your team is admirable." Guardian Brent ruffled my hair. "I can see why you broke out of the school."

"Brent, you're not meant to be encouraging the girl!" Guardian Black chastised and smacked the back of his head. "Though I do have to agree that your loyalty is something worth praising."

"Thanks." I smiled shyly.

"Enough talk! Ana and Louise told us that there's an after party so you're heading straight for the shower before we dress you up!" Roxy pushed me towards my room.

"No way, I'm dressing myself thank you very much." I scoffed.

"But -"

"No buts, I'm in charge of my own wardrobe for this one." I said stubbornly and was about to head into the shower before being stopped by Lady Jill Drozdov.

"Would you like me to heal your injuries for you?" she offered kindly.

"Um… if you wouldn't mind, could we wait until we head back to the Academy? I mean, it'd be weird for everyone else if they notice that my leg is suddenly completely healed." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"You could still wear the cast Kylie," she told me softly. "It would be best if we heal it as soon as possible."

"Well, I'll follow your judgement since you'd know better than I would." I smiled and sat down as she took the cast off and proceeded to heal my leg. "Thanks Lady Drozdov."

"Don't worry Kylie, and congratulations on your win."

"Thank you." I beamed before hastily running to the shower. Twenty minutes later I stepped out of the shower and got dressed into a lace wide scoop neck shirt which hugged my body with three quarter length sleeves, a simple white cropped short sleeved blouse, a pair of smoky patterned harem pants which hid the cast and a pair of ankle boots. I waved my damp hair as I stepped into the main common room. I noticed that the Moroi boys were dressed in casual but more party like clothes and I could only guess that they'd gone shopping. I blinked in surprise at the outfits that the four of them wore. All four were wearing almost the same thing; they were all wearing simple black slacks, black shoes and slightly unbuttoned button downs. The four of them wore a shirt which was in correspondence to their elements and I felt my lips tug into a grin at that. The girls however weren't changed at all. "Okay, you three have to dig through my drawers for something to wear." I demanded as I went into the kitchen to get a coke.

"Are you sure?" they asked shyly.

"Yes, so go." I waved and they rushed into my room to get changed. The girls took at least ten minutes trying to decide what they were going to wear and once they were done, I told them to leave the make-up until we got to the club. That way, they could experience Ana's magic.

Somehow, we managed to split the travel arrangements so that I drove the other three girls in my car while the Guardians drove the four Moroi guys in their sleek SUVs. The drive to Juan's club took longer than usual because of the rush hour but when we finally reached my old work place I could see some of the Guardians frowning in disapproval.

There was no doubt that they disapproved of my working in a club, but hey, what could I say? I helped Juan out a lot especially since I was a fast learner and it wasn't as though I was doing anything immoral while working at the club. All I did was to serve drinks and sing and dance on Saturday nights or other special occasions. Sure there were occasions when our dress was a little risqué but that depended on the workers and what they felt comfortable with. None of us were ever forced to wear something we didn't want to.

Since the guys had already been there before, they knew the way in through the front entrance and I dragged the three girls with me through the backdoor so that we could enter the changing rooms where I knew that Ana and Louise would be waiting with make-up bags at the ready.

"Gee Kai, what took you so long?" Ana complained as soon as I stepped through the back door.

"Sorry, Ana, but traffic was a bitch." I shrugged with a cheeky grin.

"How's your leg?" Louis asked with open concern.

"I'm managing." I nodded. "But hey, you know me, I've always had a surprisingly high tolerance for pain and I sure as hell am not gonna let something like this stop me from having fun at this party."

"Of course not, after all, you finally beat Carlton High and showed them who's boss!" Louise and Ana cheered.

"Got that right." I winked. "Anyway, Ana and Louise, feel free to go nuts with the make-up on these three."

"I'm so excited! I've been brimming with ideas since yesterday when we first met you three!" Ana squealed in delight as she eagerly grabbed the hands of the three dhampir girls.

"I'm going to head out into the main part of the club and say hi to everyone. I'll see you in a few minutes… or maybe half an hour…" I trailed off in amusement when I saw Ana fawn over the girls.

I simply shook my head in exasperation and excused myself from the chaos.

"Kai! We beat them!" Drake hollered as soon as he saw me and my entire soccer team flocked towards me.

"Yes Drake, way to state the obvious." I smirked cheekily and squealed when I felt them pick me up.

"Kai, once again, great job on the collaborated choreography," the coach told me with double thumbs up.

"Thank you, I'm glad you liked it." I laughed.

"Even gay guys would enjoy watching a routine like that," he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, now that's a compliment." Cher giggled as she stepped up to me. "Well done with kicking Carlton's ass. Thank you so much, Kai, for coming back for this."

"I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn't partake in the match in anyway. It would be as if I was abandoning my team and I would never be able to live with myself." I shook my head and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks a bunch for always being a splendid cheerleader and dancer."

"Yeah, we heard that you even had to quit your job, Kai. Is your new school that strict?" Cher asked in disappointment. "I'll miss hearing your songs and seeing them reach the top of the charts."

"Oh trust me, I'll miss that as well. But, I may not have to quit entirely. I think I've managed to coerce my Headmaster into giving me some sort of a leeway." I grinned. "All that's left is the discussion between my Headmaster and Ms. Manager."

"Trust you to be able to charm a stranger into giving you a leeway." Cher laughed.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that the Headmaster is a stranger." I told her sheepishly.

"Oh?" Cher frowned in surprise.

"Kai." Quinn called out and I turned around to see the four royals stepping towards me.

"Uh, Kai? Who the heck are these hotties?" Cher demanded with a low whisper.

I simply grinned at her. "Guys, meet the best cheerleader in the world, Cher. Cher, this is Drew, Quinn, Jacks and Dan."

"I saw you earlier, you were the one leading the last three dance routines right?" Dan commented with a smile and I could see his eyes appraising her. Cher was wearing a simple red glistening bodycon that hugged her body in all the right places and it didn't take a genius to notice all the eyes that were attracted to her. Moroi boys were certainly no different, Cher possessed everything any boy would lust after, a full chest, an hourglass figure and soft features. That was still the main difference in appearance between dhampirs and humans. Dhampirs were often worn, their skin often tough and calloused. Humans on the other hand still held the delicate looking features that would drive a Moroi hormonal boy mad.

"Yeah, do you dance?" Cher asked with a flirtatious voice.

"Well…" Dan trailed off and snuck a glance at me.

"So long as you stay more sober than you had last time, I couldn't really care less. This is a party after all." I winked at him.

"Hey Kai." Tyce hollered from the bar and beckoned for me. "I demand a rematch."

"Tyce, just admit it already, you're a sore loser when it comes to drinking games." I laughed as I walked up to the bar where Juan was serving for tonight.

"Not a chance. Come on, have one more match with me. It'll be our last one after all. Well, at least until school is over anyway and you can visit more often."

"Fine, just one, but how about later? Surely you don't want to get smashed at the start of the party?" I suggested.

"You may be right about that," he nodded.

"Kai!" Ana and Louise called out to me as the pair of them came towards the bar along with the three dhampir girls.

"Nice job with the eccentric party make-up as always, Ana." I grinned when I saw the makeover that the other three girls had gone through.

"Well, now that you're gone, I need to practice as much as I can if I have any hopes of getting into a beauty school," she sighed.

"Hey, you have an entire school of beautiful girls who would love to have a makeover from you." I pointed out.

"Yes, but most of them are very fussy. And is that Cher I see flirting with Dan over there?"

"Yeah, they saw each other and bam they started flirting."

"He's not going to do anything is he?"

"No, he promised me that he won't and he knows the consequences of what would happen if he broke the promise." I reassured her. If Dan was a good friend of Drew's, then I was fairly sure that Dan would very likely be a man of his word. "By the way, can one of you two take care of my baby while I'm gone? Just a simple check up on it every once in a while would be fine and could one of you take it back to my garage as well since I won't be driving it tonight."

"Of course we can take care of your baby, Kai. She is gorgeous after all." Louise giggled.

When we heard someone tapping on the microphone and the music stop, we all turned to face the stage. I was surprised to see several members of the soccer team standing on stage, each with a mic in their hands.

"Alright everybody, now since we were lucky enough to have the best captain Rokfurd High has ever had back for the most important match in history, it's only right for us to make a speech." Drake began.

"Now, we'll take this right from the start." Bret continued. "The start began, from when our dearest Kai, entered Senior High and we were all surprised to discover on the second day that she had specifically applied for Rokfurd High because of its reputation in regards to soccer and its arts department."

"She had chosen not to go to a neighbouring school, but instead picked Rokfurd High along with two very charming ladies by the names of Ana and Louise. It is thanks to Kai, that Rokfurd High currently has one of the youngest make-up artists who is selected with work on movie sets and music videos. And we also have a very talented composer in our school."

"Now, on the second day of the year, when she turned up to tryouts in sporting kit, we'd all thought that it was some big joke and none of us took her seriously. She was turned down and the only position we would offer her was the position of being the manager. But she never gave up. She nagged and pestered our poor coach almost to the point of insanity and finally, coach gave her a chance to prove her abilities after one week of her incessant harassing."

"Hey! I resent that!" I called out. "I wasn't that cruel to our poor coach."

"You say that now." Bret winked. "But trust me, you were awful."

"But, Kai gave us all a run for our money and even the seniors were gobsmacked. None of us could stop her once she had the ball, not even when it was five against one. And so, the coach took a risk and let her into the team."

"None of us had expected for her to be able to physical keep up with our heavy training schedules and we were even more surprised when she gave extremely valuable suggestions when it came to tactics. It was unbelievable how much she knew about soccer."

"Not only did she improve our skills and tactics, she also changed a lot of our old snobby attitudes. We used to be nearly just as bad as the Carlton High jerks, but Kai changed all of that and we soon became well respected soccer players."

"Without Kai, we wouldn't have gotten this far."

"And without Kai, I wouldn't have been able to continue on with my passion for soccer." Tyce told everyone with a heartfelt voice. "So here is a toast, to the best soccer captain any school could only dream of having."

"And it is truly an honour, to have you as the captain of Rokfurd High's soccer team," the coach added and raised his glass of beer.

I felt tears stinging my eyes and I raised my glass as beads of tears rolled down my cheeks. "And here's to the best team I could ever wish for!" I cheered and everyone raised their glasses for the toast.

After that was all party and nothing else. Towards the end of the night which was during the very early hours of the morning. Tyce challenged me to a drinking match and I beat him after downing ten shots. I had to admit though, that by the tenth shot, I was feeling giddy and not entirely sober.

"Alright everybody, let's finish the evening with a bang!" I hollered into the mic. "Ladies, you know who I'm talking about, join me on the dance floor for one last song. Here is my gift to all you lads for being some of the most amazing people of Rokfurd High!"

Cher along with three other members of the cheerleader squad joined me, Ana and Louise on the dance floor. Juan threw me, Ana, Louise and Cher some headsets with mics so that we could dance and sing at the same time without anything to hinder us. We all got into our positions on the dance floor and the score for 'Lady Marmalade' by Christina Aguilera came on.

The four of us sang our hearts out and tantalised the boys to the point of no return with our sensual routine and I could see that all the Guardians had come in to catch a glance at the show that us girls were putting on. I'd decided that since it was my last night at the club, I might as well lay all the cards on the table. Most people in Rokfurd High already knew that I was the lead singer of the duo named group Vampire Guardians/Risqué so it didn't really matter either way whether I sang or not. It was only on a normal club opening night that I had to be careful, but since this was a private party, I knew that I was pretty safe.

I was even more surprised to see that my band mates had decided to join the show. They had even brought their instruments with them. What was the best was that they knew the pieces off by heart so there was a mixture of live and track performances.

The next track that we played was 'Sway' by the Pussycat Dolls and that made the club even more rowdy than before. Then we sang 'Waking Up in Vegas' by Katy Perry and after that we took a short break.

"Guys! I didn't know you'd be here. This is the best surprise ever!" I squealed in delight and threw my arms around my band members.

"Seriously Kai, what's this about you quitting on us for almost two years at least?" Rick demanded and poked my chest in irritation.

"Yeah Kai, when we got the call from Krista, it was all very confusing." Andy grimaced.

"We're still wondering whether we need to get new jobs or not." Matt frowned and brushed a strand of hair from my face.

"You three boys don't need to worry about that anymore." Ms. Manager shook her head as she stepped up to us. "It's good to see that you're still on the ball, Kai."

"Cheers, Ms. Manager." I grinned. "So I take it you've spoke to my Headmaster?"

"Yes, and we've come to the arrangement that this will be difficult and probably be more time consuming but it will be worth it if we can keep you as an artist. You will fly here for certain days like for the rehearsals in preparation for a recording and things like that," she explained. "We'll work everything in the schedule based on Thursdays and Sundays."

"I don't care what I have to do so long as I still get to keep the job." I scoffed.

"I could imagine you stirring up quite the argument once you found out that you'd be unable to do the job." Ms. Manager commented.

"I was certainly disappointed, but I understood the reasons behind it." I told them vaguely. "But none of that matters anymore because I can still keep the career!"

"Have you let Louise and Ana know yet?"

"No because I wasn't certain whether it was going to work out or not."

"I would've said yes no matter what the proposal was if there was the slightest chance of keeping you as a singer." Ms. Manager scoffed.

"Well then I guess I can let the two know about it now." I told her with a beaming smile. "Hey Louise! Ana! Guess what, you guys are still hired!" I shouted to them over the noise of the crowd.

"Really? You're joking!" they screamed in delight and ran over instantly.

"Nope, it's been arranged, so whenever I have a concert or a video or I have to make an appearance, I'll be calling for you Ana, and Louise, I'll be depending on you for Risqué's songs."

"That's amazing!" Ana cheered.

"That's definitely great to hear. So does that mean that the new song I wrote a few days ago is still usable?" Louise asked with hope shining in her eyes.

"Hey, even if I wasn't going to be the one singing it, I would've made sure that someone else could so that your amazing compositions would be shown to the world." I scoffed. "Anyway, Drake! I need you help with the next number."

"What do you need captain?" he arched his brows as he slid a drink to me across the bar.

"I need you to rap the parts in the song 'Buttons' by the Pussycat Dolls." I told him simply and grabbed the girls again. In the middle of the song before the instrumental part where we would really show off our dancing, we each grabbed a boy who was closest to us to dance around sensually. Cher had grabbed Drake, Ana had grabbed Bret, Louise had grabbed Dan and I had grabbed Quinn. It was lucky that we'd all managed to grab boys who could improvise naturally and so the routine wasn't awkward at all. Before it reached the instrumental part we gently pushed the boys away.

The next one was also the last and everyone suggested 'Show Me How You Burlesque' by Christina Aguilera. It was another song from the movie 'Burlesque' and it was also one of my favourites. With that song finished, everything died down a little bit as some people tried to sober up a little. I guess that my alcohol high was still active since I was still feeling the energy running through me.

"Do you think that you have enough energy for one dance?" Drew whispered in my ear as he rested his hands on either sides of my body on the bar.

"Well, it would depend on the type of dance." I smiled cheekily at him. When I heard the tune come through the speakers of the club, I glanced at the DJ and he simply pointed at Drew which meant that it was Drew who chose the song. "I guess I can manage this one dance."

I noticed that people cleared a small space at the centre of the dance floor as Drew led me by the hand. The music was a beautiful instrumental with a good mashup of various songs. I glanced at Drew in curiosity but he simply smiled innocently at me.

When the dance finished there were people who applauded and members of my soccer team gave me teasing nudges and winks while gesturing at Drew. I was sad when the time for me to leave the human world and return to the crazy vampire world again but I knew that I had to say goodbye properly at some point.

"Do your best at your school, Kai," everyone told me and I was pretty sure that I had managed to hug or kiss everyone goodbye in that club at least once. When I finally made it out of the club, I could see Els, Roxy and Ingrid stumbling quite a lot from fatigue.

"Kai, tell us the truth. Are you actually the lead singer of Risqué?" the three girls asked in perfect sync.

"Yes." I told them simply.

"No wonder you're so amazing." Roxy grinned and punched my lightly on the arm.

"Thanks, but I'm not the amazing one, you all just overestimate me." I retorted.

"I don't think so, Kai. You were damn hot out there." Quinn commented. "We could all tell that you could move well from combat class, but none of us realised that you could move like _that_. It was modest, but definitely very risqué."

"Well, that is what I named my band after all." I grinned.

"The cars are parked a few blocks down to avoid attention." Ali told us.

"I suppose so, I can definitely imagine a whole row of black SUVs catching some attention." I shrugged. I didn't really think anything of the location of where the cars were parked, not until I actually saw where they had parked them. "You parked them in the darkest part of the city near the woods and an abandoned factory? Are you crazy?" I hissed and my awareness shot up a few notches. Whatever alcohol that was left in my system was instantly gone.

"Is there something wrong with that prospect? It is one of the first drills, to make sure everything is placed at an inconspicuous place." Guardian Black frowned.

"That would normally be the case that is unless the place in question is a well visited place by Strigoi." I glared at them.

"We made sure to scout the area properly and we've left two guardians in charge." Guardian Brent point out.

I took a deep breath and began sniffing the air. What I smelled made my blood run cold and I licked my suddenly dry lips tentatively. Why was I so worried you may ask?

It was because I smelled something foul.

I smelled blood.


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Guardian Castile, get those seven to safety and protect them. We've certainly got company tonight." I told him stiffly and gestured at the other seven undergraduates.

"What are you talking about, Kai?" Ali frowned at me. I grabbed his collar and tugged him down so that I could whisper into his ear.

"There are friggin' Strigoi out there. I can smell blood, that means that the two guardians that you left here are now dead. Get those seven to safety."

"You need to get to safety as well," he told me sternly.

"Just get them out of here. I've got this covered. I've lived here for the past six years, I know how this place runs and I know it like the back of my hand." I glared at him.

"You're not fighting with them." Ali scowled at me. "Brent, Johnson, get the _eight_ kids out of here," he ordered.

"Wait, what?" Brent blinked in shock at the sudden order.

"Damn it, Ozera, make sure the dozing ones get the hell out of here fast!" I warned him with a desperate plea in my eyes.

"Take care of yourself." Drew nodded in understanding. "Guardian Brent and Lady Drozdov, please come with us. This is urgent." Drew told them and grabbed the hands of two of the girls and started running back towards where we came from. They ran to an area where there was a large open space and I breathed a sigh of relief at Drew's intelligence. An open space would certainly be better than where we were at that moment with alleys all around us and balconies. There were far too many openings for a Strigoi to attack us where we stood.

"Damn it Valentine! Get out of here." Ali commanded and tried to push me away.

Unfortunately, Jill did not take the hint and went to open one of the doors of the vehicles. I watched solemnly as two bloodied bodies fell out of the SUV and Jill screamed in horror. I smacked my forehead and glared at Ali. "Do you want to give me one of your stakes? I knew you have at least two on you right now."

"No, you're going to get to safety just like the others." Ali told me stubbornly. He tried to push me again but to no avail and in that moment, two Strigoi jumped out of hiding and lunged at Jill.

Ruthlessly I shoved Ali away and reached for the stake that he kept hidden inside his jacket. While running as fast as I could to Jill's side, I threw the stake at one of the Strigoi and tackled the other one. My instincts coursed through me and without a moment's hesitation I snapped the Strigoi's neck which would definitely incapacitate it for a short moment. That short moment was all the other guardians needed to get their act together and to slip into guardian mode.

One of the guardians wrenched me up from the Strigoi and staked him. Another three Strigoi jumped out of an SUV, breaking the windows and doors in their haste to attack us. I ducked out of the first one's way and kicked as hard as I could at the other one. I grabbed Jill's shaking hand and dragged her away from the centre of the fight while four of the guardians fought with the three Strigoi.

"Ozera, fire circle!" I shouted when I noticed a Strigoi creeping up on them, using the shadow of the night as her cover. Drew instantly threw up a flaming circle and they all saw the Strigoi. Unfortunately, the circle wasn't high enough and another two Strigoi managed to jump on them from above. The circle dissipated instantly and I watched with horror as Ingrid and Roxy were wiped out with a single swipe.

Anger overrode ration and I knocked into the first Strigoi so hard it rattled my teeth. I snapped his neck before going blindly for the next one with a menacing growl. "Guardian Brent, give me a stake right now!" I commanded and he was so caught up in the moment that he obeyed without delay. He threw me a stake and I flipped it a couple of times in my hand. The Strigoi and I circled each other for a few moments and I could see the others watching tensely.

The adrenaline that was coursing through me was driving me insane and my entire body itched to make the first move. My mind on the other hand told me to stay put and to not rush. I knew that more often than not, being too hasty in a fight was often the main cause for failures and deaths. I was certainly not up for dying tonight or making any major mistakes that could get me fatally injured, so I shoved the instinct down and simply waited with a bated breath for the attack.

I was ready for it when the Strigoi lunged at me and I stood firmly up until the last moment when I turned slightly to the left and curved my body so that the Strigoi slipped right past without touching me. I swung my arm upwards then down in an arc and stabbed the Strigoi right through the chest where the heart would be and he crumbled instantly. I wrenched the stake out and threw it as I span around at another Strigoi who had been preoccupied with running at the Moroi. The stake caught her in the shoulder, barely missing her heart and she hissed in pain as she collapsed, scratching at her chest at the pain.

I stormed towards her with a murderous glint in my eyes. I was surprised when Guardian Jenson whirled past me and took care of the dying Strigoi before I could. He sent me an unfathomable glance and I was certainly surprised when he handed me a stake. "You're going to need this," he told me stiffly before going after another Strigoi.

I momentarily lost my momentum and pace so it was really no surprise to me when a Strigoi crashed into me, taking us both to the ground. I grunted in surprise and stared in complete shock when a block of earth collided in the Strigoi on top of me. The force of the hit was so strong that it sent the Strigoi flying off and I sat up feeling disorientated.

"Thanks, Jacks." I smiled sheepishly at him and he gave me a hand up.

"I guess that being a Moroi really does come in handy sometimes," he grinned wryly.

"Duck." I commanded and he dropped instantly. My arm lashed out and with a single swipe I plunged the stake deep into the Strigoi's chest. I made sure that the life was completely out of its eyes before snatching the stake back out. "You're pretty good for not passing out this time." I teased.

"Hey, last time I was hit before I passed out. That was totally not my fault," he complained defensively.

"I know, I'm only joking." I smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Why are there so many Strigoi around here?" Dan grumbled.

"There are I think two Moroi bars not that far from here." I told them before I fully realised what I saying.

"How did you know that?" the Moroi boys, with the exception of Drew stared at me in shock. Drew was surprised because he already knew that I was aware of Moroi bars being around here. "Aren't you meant to be new to everything except the killing part?"

"I was warned. I've encountered a couple of ex-guardians before in the past six years and they told me about the bars. They warned me that I might spot a few Strigoi while working in this area." I explained vaguely. I noticed a flash of suspicion cross Drew's eyes but he didn't say anything. Instead, he just narrowed his eyes at me. I stared stubbornly at him and refused to disclose anything else.

"Kai!" I heard Ali shout in warning and I shoved the Moroi away as I whirled around with stake in hand and slashed it across the neck of the Strigoi before staking her properly. Wrenching the stake out, I noticed the last Strigoi running away and I hastily calculated the distance in my mind. I decided to risk it and threw the stake as hard as I could. A grim smirk tugged at my lips as the stake struck its target and got rid of the last Strigoi.

"That was completely reckless! I told you to stay away from the fight!" Ali bellowed as he stormed up to me. I raised my arms in preparation for his hit when I saw his pull back his arm. I shut my eyes and waited for the pain to come but it never did. I peeled open my eyes to see both Drew and Crispin holding Ali back. I could see the fury in his eyes and I flinched.

"I'm sorry, Guardian Castile but in a situation like this, you can't afford to hold anyone back. Holding them back places them in direct danger because it makes them practically hopeless." I told him seriously.

"You should not have jumped into the fight," he hissed through gritted teeth. "I don't care about whether you're confident with yourself or not just because you've made kills before, but you're not longer a rogue, Kai. You cannot just go jumping into every fight you see fit. Now that you're under the protection of the school, you have to abide by our rules."

"So you're saying that I should've held myself back and just watch Lady Drozdov get attacked? Don't joke with me!" I retaliated, feeling my own anger rise.

"She was safe."

"That is bullshit and we both know it!" I screamed at him, jamming a finger into his chest. "You had your friggin' back turned to a Moroi! A bloody royal one at that! Don't go blaming me for jumping into a life and death situation. Saving others come first! Self-preservation comes second to that and you know it!"

"Not when the person in question is a ro -"

"Don't!" I screamed and shoved his chest hard enough to make the air leave his lungs so that he couldn't finish his sentence. "Don't you fucking dare." I growled at him. I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes from anger and I was more than tempted to beat the crap out of Ali in that moment. He might have been my childhood friend, but even we had our tiffs and this was certainly one of them. Ali always seemed to be much more over-protective than anyone else. He was more over-protective than my parents were and that was saying something.

"Both of you, calm down. The first thing we need to do is to secure the area and call for re-enforcement so that they can inspect any wounds and to tidy up the area." Crispin stepped in and put a hand firmly on Ali's shoulder to restrain him. "Alistair I want you to scout the area to see if there's any more danger and clear your head while you're at it. We don't need any personal issues to complicate the situation."

Ali looked like he wanted to refuse for a moment but then he took a deep breath and stormed off. I stared at his back guiltily. In truth, we were both at fault. If I had been an ordinary student, he would've been right that I shouldn't have recklessly jumped straight into the fight. Technically speaking, I should've let the guardians handle it all. However, I wasn't just an ordinary student; I was a student who had killed more Strigoi than I could count without attending a vampire school. There was absolutely no way that I was just going to stand back and watch others fight in my steed just because I was back in school. I had lived off of instinct for far too long to be able to supress it during an attack. My instant reaction to a Strigoi attack would be to fight and defend. That was just who I was.

I suddenly remembered that Roxy and Ingrid had both been knocked out and I let out a gasp. I turned around and ran to where they were lying and Els stared up at me with wide eyes when she saw me approach.

"How… how did you do that?" Els whispered. "I couldn't even move and they were knocked out before they could even blink."

"It's practice, Els." I told her grimly and checked over my two friends.

"They're both fine, they might hurt when they wake up, but they're fine." Els reassured me and I just stared at her for a moment before grabbing her for a tight hug.

"God… when I saw Roxy and Ingrid get taken down… I didn't know what to think. I thought that you guys were going to get killed."

"But we didn't, because you saved us, Kai. You really are amazing." Els smiled and patted my back soothingly.

"I'm not, if I was amazing then I would've saved you guys before the pair of them could even be knocked out." I scoffed.

"You really do love to put yourself down, don't you?" Els commented wryly.

"No, I'm just truthful." I protested.

"Hey Kai, how are you feeling? You got knocked down pretty hard at one point and you have blood on your head." Dan asked worriedly and he ran his hands over my head gently.

"Ow!" I squealed when he touched a particular spot and I glared up at him childishly.

"Found it," he grinned victoriously. "I was right; you have blood in your hair as well."

"How could you tell? It's practically pitch black except for the faraway street lamp all the way over there."

"I've adapted to the poor light conditions a little bit," he shrugged. "Lady Drozdov, do you think you can help fix this wound?"

"Yes, of course." Jill nodded. I could see that she was still a little shaken. No doubt she was not expecting to get attacked but at least she hadn't fainted in shock. "Thank you Kylie, for saving me back there. I think that you may have been right about what you said earlier to Alistair. There was absolutely no way for any of the guardians to get to me in time because they simply weren't in guardian mode at that moment. You were very fast, Kylie."

"That's the result of a lot of heavy running." I smiled shyly at her compliment and flinched when her hands softly touched my scalp. I let out a breath in comfort when I felt her magic sooth the pain on my head. After a few moments, the pain was completely gone and I knew that whatever injury it had been was no longer there. "Thank you."

"No problem, it's the least I could do in return for you saving my life."

"It was my pleasure, Lady Drozdov." I inclined my head politely and she smiled warmly at me.

"You know, Kylie, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought that you were already a fully-fledged guardian and one of the best as well." Jill beamed. "I don't believe that you are that far behind with the vampire 101 studies, it would be easy for you to jump a year so that you can become a guardian sooner," she suggested.

I stared at her with wide eyes for a moment before shaking my head frantically. "Oh I couldn't possibly do that." I spluttered and flailed my arms all around.

"I don't see why not, you've got the talents for it and the best teachers at the school will make sure you pass academically as well." Jill frowned in confusion, not understanding why I couldn't possibly jump up a year.

"I can't possibly leave these people alone." I smiled softly and hugged Els to me to emphasise my point. "I want to spend time and graduate with these people, Lady Drozdov. I thank you for your compliments, but these are the people that I want to graduate with and I can't possibly leave them when they've done so much for me."

"Kai, why did you have to be such a sweet talker?" Els complained and hugged me tightly.

"I'm not that much of a sweet talker." I laughed sheepishly. "So anyway, how long do you think it'll take for the re-enforcements to arrive?" I asked Crispin.

"I've just called them and they will be here within the next hour. They're sending the nearest group they can. A couple of alchemists will be here within ten minutes."

"You mean those magical humans who really have a thing against the vampires?" I tilted my head to the side in query.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Don't tell me, you read that in the text book right?" Els arched her brows curiously at me.

"No, Guardian Maxwell told me about them." I shook my head and let the lie fall off my tongue easily. "Well, actually, he explained what they were, but I'd met them on several occasions before as well."

"Oh?" Jill arched her brows at me in surprise. "So this is not you for kill?"

"No." I told her truthfully. There would be no point in lying since there would be no way for this to be my first kill, not with the way I'd fought so efficiently.

Everyone fell silent for a while and the silence wasn't broken until the alchemists arrived.

"Kylie? What are you doing here? I thought this was official guardian business." Arthur called out in surprise when he saw me.

"Hey Arthur, hey Tam." I smiled tiredly at the couple.

"Don't tell me, you've been caught haven't you sweetheart?" Tamara frowned with concern as she strode up to me.

"Getting caught is right. I was caught about this time last week I think… or maybe it's been a few days more than that. I can't even remember anymore. All I know is that I've spent a whole week at a vampire school." I told them sheepishly.

"A whole week?" Arthur glanced at me with wide eyes. "With that temper of yours, I would've thought that you'd be expelled straight away," he teased.

"Well, I've managed to retain my anger just a little." I grinned. "The combat classes have certainly helped."

"So you are well?" the couple asked me seriously.

"Yes, I've been treated very well." I nodded solemnly.

"Aw, that's such a shame. I'm going to miss our monthly dinners together. I'm going to miss your treats little rogue." Arthur pouted and I had to admit that seeing such a childish expression on a fully grown man was more than a little amusing.

"You know these two people?" Els asked shyly.

"Yes. As I've already said, today wasn't my first kill and before, whenever I couldn't get rid of the bodies of the Strigoi, I'd ring this lovely couple up for help." I explained. "Els, meet Arthur and Tamara Brandon. Arthur, Tam, meet Els, the two collapsed people over there are Roxy and Ingrid, those five Moroi are Drew Ozera, Jacks and Quinn Dragomir, Dan Zeklos and Jill Drozdov, the guardians are Guardian Castile who's off running somewhere, Jenson, Black, Brent and Johnson." I introduced everyone.

"Nice to meet you all." Arthur and Tamara chimed in greeting and glanced at the scattered bodies all around.

"I see that two of the guardians did not fare so well with the Strigoi." Tamara smiled grimly as she gestured at the two dead guardians.

"No… I don't know what happened. We found them dead in the SUV." I told them.

"Well, since there are guardians here, they will at least have a proper burial. As for the Strigoi, how many did you take down tonight?" Arthur asked.

"Um…" I thought for a moment and used my fingers to help keep count. "Five."

"Five? That's a new PB for you." Tamara commented.

"PB?" Els asked curiously.

"Personal Best. My last record was four but there were never more than that who showed up. My only guess about tonight is that they sensed that there was a whole bunch of Moroi who would be moving around tonight so they planned a mass attack." I sighed and ran a hand through my knotted hair.

"Oh yes, Kai, if you were finally caught by the school, then what are you doing here?" Tamara frowned.

"I came back for a very important match because I needed to be there for my team." I smiled proudly. "Just to let you know, we won against Carlton High."

"You mean that ruffian school?"

"Yep."

"You beat them? Well done!" Arthur cheered and slapped my back in congratulations.

"Congratulations!" Tamara squealed and hugged my tightly.

"Ehem," someone coughed and we all turned to see Crispin standing there with amusement in his eyes. "I apologise about interrupting your conversation but I think it would be best that we tidy up the Strigoi as soon as possible. We've already gathered all the corpses into a pile to make things easier for you two."

"Thank you Guardian..?"

"Jenson." Crispin told them with a polite smile.

"Pleasure to meet you, Guardian Jenson." Tamara smiled back.

"I hope that you take good care of this little treasure. Should we hear that she's been mistreated or she's unhappy, we're more than prepared to stir up trouble for the school." Arthur warned him.

"Valentine will be well taken care of at our school. It seems that she's already managed to make quite a few connections already. She has already befriended several royals, not to mention she has more than impressed the Lord and Lady Badica. Or so I've heard." Crispin grinned at me and ruffled my hair playfully.

"Hey, if you're not careful I just might deck you again." I pouted and pushed his hands away. "My hair is in enough of a mess already, I don't need to you make it worse."

"Now, now Kai, is that really any way to talk to a guardian?" Arthur chastised and smacked my head.

"Sorry, momentarily lapse of manners." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"You certainly do have quite a few of those, don't you?" Tamara teased.

"I can't help it." I whined and leaned against one of the SUVs as I watched Tamara and Arthur spread a bottle of chemicals over the corpses of the Strigoi. Soon the pile began to sizzle and the corpses were reduced to dust within a matter of seconds.

"Thank you for your help." Crispin inclined his head politely and Arthur and Tamara stared at him in shock.

"Well this certainly is a surprise." Arthur whistled.

"What is?" Crispin frowned.

"They're not used to vampires being polite to them. Normally, they would've been shouted at for spending so long talking to me." I explained to him. "There sure are a lot of bossy vampires out there."

"You're certainly right about that, Kai." Tamara scoffed as she seemed to remember something unpleasant.

"Anyway, it's a shame that we might not be seeing you again for a very long time, Kai." Arthur smiled sadly and drew me into a tight hug to which Tamara joined. "We'd better be going before any more vampires decided to appear. Sorry about not telling you about you being a vampire and all. But we thought that since you didn't realise it in the first place, there was no particular need to tell you."

"It's alright, I don't think I would've chosen to go to the Academy anyway, not unless I got caught." I pointed out. "I hope that I will see you two again at some point in the future. Don't get yourselves killed by accident."

"We shan't. We never turn up during the action, only after when we've either been called or we run across a random corpse that needs getting rid of." Tamara shook her head and gave me one last hug before the couple left.

"You sure do have a knack for attracting nice people to you, don't you?" Crispin commented with a grin.

"Who knows, it just happens." I shrugged.

The re-enforcements arrived five minutes later and we were all able to leave first while they took care of the SUVs and the two dead guardians. We were driven to the airport and I was asleep before the plane even took off.

* * *

_**Hi everyone!  
I'm really sorry that I haven't been updating Taking Steps for such a long time but I just haven't had the inspiration to write anything on it yet T.T But, I can promise that the Konstantin will soon be the centre of focus because it's his birthday soon! AHHHHHHHH!**_


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

I had no idea who had carried me to bed but I didn't really care too much. I was thankful that no one had tried to wake me because I definitely needed that sleep. I was absolutely knackered with the combination of the tough soccer game and the fight after the after party. I didn't want to say anything before but I was already tiring during the fight and luckily I didn't just collapse in fatigue. I guess that adrenaline really was incredible during the most desperate of times.

I got out of bed and took a quick shower. I felt gross since I was still wearing the clothes that I was partying and fighting in before and I stood under the shower head for at least ten minutes to sooth my tense muscles. During my time in the shower, I also mentally prepared myself for the long lectures that would undoubtedly ensue as a result of my stunt. While I may have been prepared for the lectures, I was certainly not expecting someone to sudden barge into my room and bathroom. I had barely managed to wrap the towel around my body when the door of the bathroom suddenly slammed open causing me to jump in shock.

I whirled around, prepared to hurl all sorts of profanities at the intruder but my voice was caught in my throat when I saw who it was. "Uh-oh…" I gulped and instantly clamped my hands over my ears.

"You are to report to the nurse's office as soon as you are dressed!" she screeched in fury and threw a roll of toilet paper at me in her moment of anger.

"Yes ma'am!" I squealed in fear. When I opened my eyes again, I could see the tears of joy and anger pooling in her eyes and my expression instantly softened. "I'm sorry." I whispered. "I'll be there really soon." I promised her as I gently wiped the tears from her eyes.

"You better be. Now get dressed before you catch a cold and don't forget to dry your hair properly, you awful child," she mumbled before turning on her heel and stomping out of my room. I stepped out of the bathroom and into my room, intending to get some clothes out of my drawers when I saw Joe standing at the doorway staring at me with shocked eyes.

"Seriously, what is it with people catching me in a towel today?" I grumbled and practically slammed the door in his face. I quickly got changed into a pair of combats, trainers, tank top and an oversized wide neck jumper before anyone else could suddenly barge into my room. I opened my door again to see Joe still standing there except this time, he was looking sheepish. I glared up at him and crossed my arms.

"Sorry, I was not expecting that."

"Neither was I."

"Sorry for staring."

"Apology accepted. Now do you want to tell me why Rosette just about slaughtered me on sight?"

"Martin accidentally let it slip as pay back for your stunt. His reasoning was something along the lines of, if you are going to put yourself in danger, you should at least be properly protected."

"He's referring to the bracelet isn't he?"

"Yes. We can talk more about what happened during combat. Crispin has already told me most of it. He also told me that you are a very good singer."

"Well I don't get to be rich through singing by being crap, do I?" I retorted sarcastically. "So what day is it and what time is it?" The clockwork of my mind was completely jumbled thanks to the constant switching between vampire and human schedules and it was getting a little hard trying to keep up with it.

"It's still Monday. You haven't actually been asleep for very long considering how knackered you must be. We were expecting you to sleep through the entire day but you only slept for about eight hours. It's around three thirty now."

"Eight hours is plenty of sleep." I rolled my eyes. "Three thirty… that means I have around half an hour to talk to Rosette. That should be enough for now."

"You never know, Kai. This is Rosette that we're talking about."

"You may be right about that. I should get going now." I sighed and took off for the nurse's office. I made it there within three minutes which I definitely considered a new record. I took a deep breath outside of the nurse's office and hesitated.

The door opened instantly and a hand whipped out to drag me into the office. Rosette dragged me mercilessly into her private office at the other end of the small hospital ward of St. Vlad's.

"You wretched child! Do you know how worried we've been? How dare you avoid me? I hear that you also jumped into the fight earlier. How could you be so reckless? You're a novice! Not to mention a princess!"

"Rosette!" I squealed and cut her off before she could start shouting any more secrets. "Stop for a moment, Rosette and at least let me apologise. This was why I had to emotionally prepare myself. I knew that you'd react like this."

"And I have every right to."

"I know you do, Rosette, but I won't let you destroy my lie at this school."

"Your lie… you mean the concealment of your real identity? I have no objection to that actually. I think that the longer you can hide it, the better." Rosette stated bluntly and I blinked at her in surprise.

"You… you agree with it?"

"Of course I do, Kai. I know full well of what would happen to you if the truth was revealed. We all know what would happen, but no one would be able to anticipate the way I can the emotional pain and agony you would have to suffer if that happened. Aside from Alistair, I was the one you consulted with the most regarding to the pain that you felt when others either mocked or ignored you. You may have changed for the better, Kalani, but I still don't think that you will be able to face the politics of being a royal. I think that it would best for you to gain people whom you can really trust first. Meet people who like you for who _you _are, not for your position. Once you manage that, even if the secret is revealed, everything will be much easier and you won't be alone."

"Oh wow… I never would've thought." I stared at her in surprise. "I would've thought that out of everyone, you'd be the one most against my decision to remain concealed. You do hate liars after all."

"Yes, but there is lying to hurt others, and lying for the greater good, and this decision will no doubt be for the latter. Not to mention, you're not technically lying to them, you're just not telling them everything. It's not like anyone has actually asked whether you're Kalani Ivashkov yet."

"You are certainly right about that. Thankfully, no one seems to have noticed yet. I think that one or two of my closer friends might have guessed that I might not really be as new to this world as I say I am, but I doubt that anyone has a single clue that there is the possibility of me being the runaway princess." I smiled grimly.

"And we should certainly keep the current situation running for as long as possible." Rosette nodded.

There was a moment of silence between the pair of us for a while before I finally managed to muster the courage to say what I needed to say. "Rosette, I sincerely apologise from the depth of my heart for what I've done to you. To all of you. It wasn't fair of me, especially since I chose to do it on the day of their funeral. None of you needed the extra stress or heart attack whatsoever. I should've at least left a note of some sort to say that I had not been kidnapped by Strigoi. Either way, I know that what I did was cruel."

"Yes, you are right about that. It was very cruel. It caused an uproar and we searched for weeks on end for you. There were professional guardians who were brought over from all over the world just to try and find you but no one ever succeeded. But, while it may have been cruel, what you were going through was much, much worse." Rosette commented and once again shocked me with her words.

"What do you mean?"

"We could all see it, Kalani. We could all see the emotional strain you were under after Ray and Amy's death. You weren't socially strong back then and to suddenly be thrown into the limelight like that wasn't fair on a ten year old child. You should never have had to endure something like what you had and it is understandable why you ran away. It was a cowardly thing to do, but perhaps it was for the better."

"Really?" I smiled nervously.

"Yes. Never in my life would I have ever imagined that someday, you would befriend four major royals and charm two other influential royals all within the same week. Nor would I have ever thought that you would take the lead in combat and help others at the same time. What you are achieving now, here at the Academy, are things that you never would've been able to achieve if you didn't leave this society. You never would've been able to grow properly. You would've been under the strain of being someone that would please everyone and you would be the target for all power mongering royals in our community. You were weak and unstable back then, Kai. But now? Now I see you as a strong, powerful young lady with full grips on how her life will turn out. You are a lady who will no longer be easily manipulated into different situations. You have found and are slowly becoming more and more as each day passes, who you want to be."

I could feel the tears prickling my eyes as she spoke and I felt pride and joy course through me at her words. She had not even seen me for that long, and yet, she could already see that I was a much stronger person now than I used to me. She could see the way that I've managed to change and she fully supported my decisions. She wasn't trying to persuade me to give up my secret; instead, she wanted me to continue keeping it.

Rosette had always been something of a second mother to me, and it really showed now. I hadn't had a mother character around me for such a long time that the full force of what it could've been like to have a mother really hit me. She must've seen something change in my aura because she suddenly wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a comforting hug.

Rosette was a spirit user as well as the head doctor at the Academy. She was also my personal doctor back when I used to get all sorts of injuries from training because I used to be quite weak despite all the extra training that I did with my parents. It seemed that back then, I never really had anything to fight for, because back then, I never really thought that it would be so easy for my loved ones to be torn away from me. It was one of Rosette's abilities as a spirit user to see other people's auras. Another ability that I recalled her possessing, was being able to sense or see someone's emotion through the colour their aura.

I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in the crook of her neck as I basked in the warmth and comfort that she provided. While being with friends that I could trust back in San Francisco was sometimes nice when I needed the comfort, it was nothing like how I felt here. This was my true home and I was really starting to believe that. After my parents' death, I had really doubted whether I truly belonged here or not, but now that I had experienced the outside world and my other possibilities, I knew that this was it.

This was where I belonged.

This was home.

This was where I could be my real self without fear.

My friends in the human world would always hold a special place in my heart, but nothing compared to what I felt for my family here. A family that I had been so cruel to and I certainly hoped to amend my mistakes by making them proud of me. I would strive in my studies and I would be a child that my parents would also be proud of if they were still alive.

"Welcome home, Kalani."

"I never thought that I would say this but… it's good to be back." I smiled sweetly at her after I pulled away from her hug.

"You have grown so much, just like Ray and Amy. I can really see the resemblance now that you've stopped hiding behind that fringe of yours."

"What can I say? I've gotten a whole lot more socially confident." I grinned cheekily.

"Yes, I've heard that about you. You have been the talk of the Academy since the day you arrived, Kalani. Not that I knew who you really were when I heard all those things about the splendid new transfer student. I have also heard from one of the guardians who was there last week when they found you that you had killed four Strigoi. That is more than what any of the guardians had managed to achieve that night."

"I know."

"And I hear from Joseph that you managed to stake five earlier as well."

"Yeah… Wait… how did he know?"

"Guardian Jenson informed him."

"How much does Guardian Jenson know? I have a feeling that Joey told him something, but what that may be, I have absolutely no clue."

"What I don't understand is, why have you not been through the tattoo ceremony yet? You should have several markings by now to signify your strength and capabilities."

"Rosette, I was a new kid, a kid who knew almost nothing about this world. I don't really think that people would really believe that an outsider would be able to kill even one Strigoi let alone four in one night." I explained. "It was for the best that I didn't get a tattoo."

"I suppose that you do have a point." Rosette nodded in understanding. "I also hear that the bracelet is nowhere near as powerful as it used to be against your magic."

"Oh yeah… about that…" I coughed nervously and glanced in a different direction to avoid her gaze.

"Hand over the bracelet, Kalani. It needs to be fixed and the sooner we do this, the better." Rosette commanded with a stern tone.

"Yes Ma'am." I grinned and took the bracelet from my wrist.

"You should also get someone to fix that crack in your shower door."

"You saw that?"

"It was huge, Kalani, it was impossible to miss it," she scoffed began to gather power into her hands so that she could transfer the spirit energy into the bracelet in order to help keep my magic in check.

"Thanks, Rosette." I smiled thankfully at her as she handed the bracelet back to me with a weary glint in her eyes. "Would you like me to make you something that will return some of your energy?"

"What do you mean by 'make'?" she narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously. "You're not going to make something ridiculous are you?"

"I meant cook."

"You cook?"

"Well, you obviously haven't heard everything about me yet." I grinned cheekily at her. "Yes, I cook and pretty well too if I said so myself."

"Ah, finally, the infamous Ivashkov idiotic pride has shown itself. I wondered whether you would inherit the same ridiculous pride as your father."

"He did not have a ridiculous pride, it was all highly justified!" I protested.

"Says the girl with the same sense of pride in the most peculiar of things."

"I resent that." I pouted childishly which caused her to laugh. "Anyway, I'll be back soon with something delicious to eat."

"I look forward to it. I am surprised that you can cook though."

"I seemed to have somehow forced the skill. After all, I did live on my own for the past six years, there was absolutely no way that I was going to live off of take-away food." I rolled my eyes. "It would've been far too unhealthy and would make me unfit to survive in that world."

"Six years… I can't believe that it's only been six years. It feels so much longer than that." Rosette murmured. "Each day, somewhere deep down, we'd all just imagine you walking down that driveway. Each day we would all have our own individual memories of you whenever we do something. For Martin, it would be when he was signing papers, you always used to bring him a delicious cup of tea to help keep him going. For me, I was waiting for the moment you would come into the office due to an injury."

"I never forgot any of you for even a day. Everything that I did, everything that I achieved and worked for, I would always wonder how proud you would all be of me if you could see how I was. And whenever I did something that I probably shouldn't have, I would remember one of you chastising me about my error."

"And now we can see you for who you have grown into and we are so, so proud of you, Kalani." Rosette smiled wholeheartedly and wrapped her arms around me softly.

"I am glad to hear that." I smiled back and detached myself from her embrace. "I will see you soon with some food in hand."

"Thank you, Kalani."

"Rosette?"

"Yes?"

"Please remember to call me Kylie in front of others." I told her bluntly before walking out of her office.

"Ah, Kai, I was told that you would be here," A pair of twin voices chimed. I turned around to see the Dragomir twins walking towards me.

"How are you two?" I asked with a hint of concern in my voice. "You two didn't get bashed up by the Strigoi did you?"

"Not at all. Thanks to a certain little prodigy, we weren't even touched." Quinn shook his head with a small smirk.

"Thanks for saving us earlier. Lady Drozdov said that she can't thank you enough for acting so swiftly." Jacks told me with a grateful smile.

"Like I said before, I wasn't just going to stand there and do nothing when I could see the danger heading straight for her." I shrugged. "It was no big deal."

"Kai, you slayed five Strigoi in succession within one night. You got to them before the guardians could get to them. That's not a small thing."

"Listen, I don't really want to talk about this so I'm going to change the topic. What are you two doing up? It's still quite early." I asked them curiously.

"We're naturally early risers. Dan is up, but not quite awake enough to take a walk. Drew..." Quinn explained.

"Well Drew is still in bed." Jacks finished off.

"He's not a morning person?" I arched my brows in amusement.

"He's the worst morning person you'll ever meet."

"Oh really? He seemed fine yesterday… or maybe it was the day before that… oh man this is really messing with my brain!" I complained as I tried to work out the time table in my head.

"Oh yes…" Jacks smiled cheekily at me.

"Now that you mention it…" Quinn trailed off, mirroring his twin's smile.

"Drew stayed…"

"Alone…"

"At your place…"

"Right?"

I blinked at them in surprise as they started to circle me with mischievous grins on their faces. I crossed my arms and made sure to keep my expression passive so that I gave nothing away. "Yes. And?"

"Did anything…"

"Happen?"

"Do you two always have to split up the sentence?" I fired back. "Can't you each just ask one individual question?"

"But if we both have the same question in mind, we decided that it would be more fun to just share the question, just like we share everything else," they shrugged.

I stared at them in shock at their words. "You can't be serious."

"What?" they frowned.

"You can't share _everything_."

"Sure we can."

"No, you can't." I shook my head. "There is one thing that you'll never be able to share."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"A heart and the girl who belongs to it." I stated. "That is something that you'll never be able to share."

"Well you never know, we might."

"No, you won't. Because you'll get jealous of one another and in the end one of you will get hurt and find someone else. Or you'll both fall for different girls and won't even realise it."

"We won't get jealous," they scoffed.

"You say that now, but it's in all living things' nature to feel jealousy when it comes to love."

"We won't. We're different. We're twins."

"You will. It's because you're twins that it'll be even worse because you both think that you _should_ be able to share everything, but when it comes to love, you'll realise that you _can't_." I told them sagely. "And when that finally happens and neither of you know how to deal with it, I'll be happy to listen to your troubles and feelings."

With that said, I left the pair of them feeling dumbfounded and headed for the home economics room where I could make a special tea that would revive a person's energy naturally.

9


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Once I was done making the drink, I headed back to Rosette's office with two mugs in hand. One was mine to fully waken my senses since I was still feeling a little drowsy and I could feel the ache in my head, either as a result of the drinks from the party, or from being hit in the head by a Strigoi. Either way, the drink would help replenish my energy before I had to face the rest of the school about my daring escape from the Academy and my boldness of dragging others with me, especially the four royals. They might have opted to follow me out of the academy of their own free will, but it was me who gave them such an opportunity. If it wasn't for me, I didn't think that any of them would have considered the fact that it would be very easy to sneak out of the Academy if you knew the right procedures to follow. I was certainly one of the people who knew the procedures, because I knew this school almost back to front. I might have been away for six years, but having been here for a week already, most of my memories of this place had resurfaced and I could almost remember every inch of this area.

When I returned to Rosette's office, I saw that Martin was there and I mentally prepared myself for the lecture that would undoubtedly happen in a few moments' time.

"Kai." Martin stared at me for a long moment before giving a heavy sigh. "Please don't ever do that again. I'm not going to lecture you because I know that it would fall on deaf ears. It wouldn't take a genius to work out that you had everything planned to the core, even the arrival of the guardians in San Francisco."

"Well I didn't plan _everything_. The Strigoi attack was a surprise. I never would've expected the guardians would be so foolish as to park beside an obviously abandoned and derelict warehouse that could obviously be a hideout for a bunch of Strigoi. Surely _someone_ in that group had thought of the possibility that they could get attacked by Strigoi in that area, especially since a week before hand, Strigoi had attacked the club due to the appearance of Moroi." I stared firmly at him as I handed Rosette her herbal tea.

"Thank you, Kalani," she smiled gratefully and took a deep breath of savour the scent of the tea before taking a small sip. I watched as comfort instantly washed over her and her shoulders relaxed and she leant back into her chair.

"Even guardians make mistakes, Kai. That's why I'm not going to give you a lecture, because from what I hear, it is _your_ experience and knowledge of that area that saved them. Had you not immediately acted and requested for the young royals to head to a safer spot, they too would've been in range for the attack from the SUVs. Alistair knows that fact well, he just doesn't want to admit that you are no longer a princess who needs his constant guard."

"I never needed his _constant_ guard. That would be highly patronising and while I admit that I was pretty pathetic back then, I wasn't bad enough to need constant guarding." I scoffed.

"Either way, I am here to tell you that you can no longer hide, Kai. You have to get those tattoos and to attend that ceremony."

"You're kidding…"

"No, Kai. I could excuse you for that first time, but this time, even I can't help you. It is our law and tradition and there were far too many witnesses this time. You also blatantly threw yourself in harm's way to protect a royal; that in itself calls for special acknowledgement of some sort."

"But tattoos hurt… and I'd have to get them done in front of an audience, right?"

"Yes."

"That sucks."

"Everything has a down side, Kalani." Rosette smiled softly.

"Don't you think I've learnt that by now? I mean, I do have to attend Vampire 101 lessons with Brooks for one extra lesson a week. Having normal Vamp 101 lessons with him would've been bad enough, but an extra one? That I can't deal with."

"And yet you have already survived through one, surely you can survive for long enough until you can pretend to have studied extra hard to catch up to everyone else?" Martin commented.

"You're right… I could so do that! Then I could be out of the extra lessons within weeks!" I squealed in delight. "Thanks for the amazing idea, Martin!"

"Pleasure," he inclined his head out of habit.

"Oh yeah… and um… sorry about causing the heart attack that you must've had when you were suddenly locked in your office." I smiled sheepishly.

"Yes. I was very surprised to find a note as well on my desk. You had definitely planned everything well. How did you manage to seal the door so well?"

"It was a timed sealing charm. I found a spell for it in one of the books and this one was specifically designed to last for several hours. That gave me enough time to arrive in San Francisco first before anything could be done on your end of things. It certainly seemed to work effectively."

"It did indeed; no one could work out what was keeping the door locked nor why no form of communication could reach me other than sliding a note beneath my office door. Then suddenly, the door just opened as though there was nothing wrong with it and I sent the appropriate people to guard you and to allow you to complete whatever task you had set out to do. I had faith that you had not run away as you had done six years ago."

"Probably because I had other people with me this time, right?"

"No. I believed in _you_. You had promised to stay here until the end unless something else happened that might change that promise. We trust you, Kai, and that is why we knew that there must've been something important for you out there that you had to do. Otherwise, you would not have been so keen on breaking out of the grounds."

"Yeah… when I got a call from my friends about the difficult situation that they were in, I just had to be there for my team. I couldn't abandon them at a moment of when they needed me the most." I smiled proudly as I remembered the splendid win that we had gained.

"Well, I shall say that I am proud of you for achieving your goal by winning that soccer tournament. Congratulations, Kai. I heard that there was a lot of foul play from the opponent."

"Unfortunately, yeah."

"And you also had your leg broken."

"Yeah."

"And your arm heavily injured."

"Yeah."

"And still you never allowed the game to end early. You never forfeited."

"I couldn't. We had to prove to Carlton that we were capable of kicking their ass. They have been too full of themselves for far too long and it was about time for us to humiliate them for good to stamp down their arrogance."

"I understand your loyalty towards your team, Kai. That's why I'm not going to give you a punishment as such. But, for appearances sake, I will punish you by making you help take care of things in the Junior Division."

"That's not a punishment. I would visit there anyway."

"I'm making it _look_ like a punishment. Regardless of your reasons, you _did_ break the rules, in fact, you broke several. You placed the lives of four important royals in danger."

"They -"

Martin held up his hand and cut me off. "Yes, they have told me. They followed you of their own accord and there was no serious damage."

"I wouldn't call the death of two guardians, 'no serious damage'." I murmured.

"That was not your fault, it was their own carelessness of parking somewhere that is asking for trouble. The death of the two guardians rest on all our consciences, I hope that you will not think of their deaths as your burden to bear, because it isn't."

I stared at him in surprise. _How on earth did he know what I was thinking?_

"You're thinking, how does he know, aren't you?"

"Yes…" I smiled sheepishly.

"It's on your face and in your nature. We all know that you have a tendency to blame yourself for everything even when it's not actually your fault. Like the problem with Marissa, you blame yourself for her expulsion right?"

"No, I blame myself for ruining her life."

"You really shouldn't do that, Kai. She made those decisions herself."

"I incited her anger."

"It's not your fault that your good qualities incite her anger. You can't just stop being who you are because of some immature child with jealousy issues."

"You're probably right about that." I nodded slowly.

"Not probably, definitely. It isn't your fault at all so don't think about it. Besides, with your most recent stunt, aside from the two guardians which was a tragic accident, there was no other harm done. The guardians whom you drugged at the gate woke up within half an hour of your escape. There was no time for the Academy to be in serious danger."

"Martin, half an hour is more than enough time for danger to swamp the place." I told him morbidly when I remembered about the incident six years ago. "Have we found out what really happened six years ago? So far as I remember, there was nothing wrong with the defences so something must've attacked the charms."

"Kalani…" Rosette cut in with a concerned tone.

"No, Rosette." I butted in, cutting her off before she could continue. "I want to know. If you have found out anything, I want to know. I'm old enough, and strong enough. You don't have to worry about putting unnecessary strain on me. Don't you think that I deserve to know? You can't shelter me forever. I'll find out eventually, one way or another."

"Kai, I want you to listen to me." Martin said sternly. "We still haven't found out what really happened six years ago. The only thing that we are all sure of; is that it wasn't an accident. It was a set up. But you have to promise me that you won't bring this up again to anyone. This is only between me as the headmaster and various lead guardians of the St. Vlad's."

"Does that include Aunty Jules and Joey?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I promise that I'll keep quiet about it." I nodded.

"Thank you, Kai."

"Don't worry about it. Even I know that if something like this is suddenly brought up, there'll be chaos throughout the school to try and work out who was the one responsible for the set up. People will start to suspect others and all sorts of trust bonds would be destroyed." I shrugged.

"Be prepared, Kai. This morning, in the Assembly, I will be announcing that a ceremony will be held in the afternoon. You will be missing your extra training session this afternoon in order to attend the tattoo ceremony."

"This morning?" I stared at him with wide eyes. "Don't I get more heart preparation time or something?"

"I'm afraid not, Kai. You've already missed the first one, you have to attend this one."

"You are only counting the kills that I made earlier right? You're not going to count the four from last week, right?"

Silence.

"Martin! You promised that that would be kept a secret!"

"I never said that. I simply said that I understood your reason for wanting to keep it a secret so I didn't pressure you into getting the tattoo. But now that all the cards are on the table, you have no more legible reasons against it."

"Sure I do, it hurts!" I protested.

"That's not a legible reason, Kai," he smirked at my feeble attempt in trying to argue with him. "I have only counted the four kills from last week and the five from earlier. I have not included the kills that you've made while being away from the Academy, or the one you made six years ago."

"Then I suppose that there is _something_ I can be thankful for about all of this." I scoffed and downed the rest of the tea that I'd made earlier. "Before I somehow instigate an argument of some sort, I'm going to go to breakfast. Be prepared to receive death glares from me during the Assembly." I warned him as I irately slammed the mug onto the table and left the office.

"She's not happy with me, is she?" I heard Martin sigh.

"She just wants to remain as normal as she possibly could for as long as she could, Martin. You know that." Rosette told him with a soothing voice.

I smiled slightly as I remembered about the slight more than friendship relationship that went on between Rosette and Martin. I wondered whether either of them had done anything about it yet. If not, I knew for sure that I would be playing more than one prank on them to try and get them together. It was something that my parents had started and I was going to finish that task for them.

I headed back to the dorms and headed upstairs to knock on the two girls' rooms. Els opened the door with a cheerful smile and she seemed surprised to see me. "Kai? How are you awake before I was? I thought you were awful with waking up."

"I am, but I woke up so I stayed up." I shrugged casually. "Are you guys ready for breakfast?"

"Nearly, Roxy is just fixing her hair and Ingrid is getting her shoes on." Els nodded. Within a few seconds the other two girls stepped out of the room and the four of us headed down to breakfast together.

As soon as we walking into the dining hall, everyone was silent and everyone stared at us.

"This is just like last week when I first came here, except I can't tell whether this is worse or not…" I murmured to the other three.

"Just live it up, Kai. You've achieved something that would've been impossible for anyone else. Be proud of that and the fact that you haven't been expelled. I wonder what punishment we're going to get though…"

"Oh it's just me who's going to get punished." I shook my head.

"You already know?"

"I bumped into the Headmaster this morning. He's already told me my punishment."

"And?"

"I'm going to be helping out in the Elementary School for a week at least." I told them.

"That means that you won't get any free time. That sucks!" Ingrid stared at me in horror.

"Well, that's what I get for putting the lives of four royals and three valuable students at risk." I sighed and ran a hand through my still damp hair.

We got our food and went to sit on an empty table by the left wall of the hall. Conversation seemed to begin again amongst the others but then about five minutes later, there was silence again. I turned to look at the door to see the four royals walk in followed by several other jocks. I had never noticed it before because I had never gotten to the dining room before the royals had, I this time I did and I saw almost every student acknowledged the arrival of the royals in some way. I was almost expecting them all to suddenly get down and kneel or do something of the sort.

My gaze met Drew's and I gave him a small smile in greeting and a dainty little wave. He replied with a full on smile, as did the other three royals. I watched as the four of them got their food and made a bee-line for the table that I was sitting on. I saw the gobsmacked expressions on the other jock's faces as they put their trays down on their usual table which was almost in the centre of the room.

"Hey Dan, where are you going?" one of the Moroi on their table asked curiously.

"We're in need of a change of scenery and it's getting tiring to have to put up with Nick's crude comments first thing in the morning." Dan told him with a smirk directed at Nick.

"You're not going to -" Nick stared at him in shock.

"Oh we are."

"Are you leaving the group?" Nick demanded.

"We were never officially in it anyway. You just dragged us along for everything." Dan shrugged.

"So what do you say, girls? Got any room on your table for four more?" Jacks asked.

"Does it look like there is?" I arched my brows cheekily. There was an awkward silence for a moment and the twins stared at me in shock, most likely thinking that I'd just singlehandedly rejected them from the table. I gave them a smirk and stood up to walk to a neighbouring empty table. "There isn't enough room, but we can easily change that." I told them sassily and lifted the table to put it beside the one that I had been sitting on. The four guys each picked up a chair and sat down.

There was absolute silence in the hall and Nick was staring in outrage at our newly formed table. No doubt he felt threatened about his position as a popular guy. It would be far too easy to take that fame away from him after all. He walked over to me and seemed to sneer as he eyed me up and down.

"So tell me, Kylie. What did you do?"

"Huh?"

"What did you do to get them on your table?"

"O'Connor, what nonsense are you trying to spit out now?" I groaned in frustration.

"Well…" he trailed off and took a sweeping glance at Els, Roxy and Ingrid before giving a sneer. "They obviously couldn't have done anything to make those four join the table so it must've been you. What did you do? Show them a good time after you lured them out of the school? Everyone's talking about it you know? About how you seduce others to get what you want and judging from your looks, that wouldn't be hard to do. Out of this table, you're the only one with the potential to seduce a guy."

I felt my temper flare at the way he was talking about the four royals like they were nothing but lustful boys and above all, I was furious at the way he was describing Els, Roxy and Ingrid. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes for a brief moment to collect myself before giving a slow sassy grin. "Well, I certainly showed them that I could easily kick a guy's ass. I would be more than happy to demonstrate my strength again if you're volunteering to be the subject of my humiliation. But then again, I don't really have to demonstrate my strength against you again, do I? I've already beat your twice, but if you really want to try again, I'd be happy to kick your ass for a third time."

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the others who knew what I had meant were trying to hold back their laughter.

Nick's sneer became a glare and he turned to the four royals. "I guess that Kylie must really be a skilful girl in bed. What did she do? Offer her blood up to you as a payment for dragging you from your delicious meals last week?"

Shock slammed into me. I was surprised that he knew about what happened back then. No one but those who were there knew about the incident that the twins and Dan nearly bit two human girls without their consent. Then I remembered. There were two others who were there. The two Moroi girls… I didn't know what Nick did, but the only others who knew about that could only have been those two girls and the guardians who were present at the time. There was absolutely no way for the guardians to have been the ones to disclose that type of information to a brat like Nick.

"Oi you douche, those four are nothing like you. They wouldn't do something as immoral as that." I glared at him.

"Nick, you better shut your mouth before you step over the line." Dan warned him with a low threatening tone.

"Getting a little defensive are we? Something must have happened then." Nick smirked. "Did she taste good, Zeklos?"

Fury flared across Dan's eyes and a second later the twins were holding onto his shoulders and Dan's fist came in contact with my palm as I stopped him from punching Nick. Nick had stumbled back slightly in shock and for a moment, fear flashed across his eyes.

"I suggest you shut that filthy and revolting mouth of yours before I show you pure oblivion." I hissed to him.

Defiance settled in his eyes.

"How do _you _know what they're like? You only just got here. They're not much better than I am." Nick scowled.

"They might not have been before, but they're definitely better than you now!" I hissed with a low menacing voice. "You're nothing more than a bully. You never were, and you still aren't. So why don't you just do something about that repulsive act of yours. Stop acting so tough when you're not."

"You don't know _anything_."

"I know a lot more than you think." I growled. "Why don't you get out of my face before I personally do something about your foolish tough act?"

"Why don't you just try it?" he dared.

"Hey! Break it up!" a guardian commanded and stepped between us to put some distance between Nick and I. "What is going on here?"

"Nothing, Guardian." I spoke stiffly through gritted teeth.

"Nothing. It's always nothing, isn't it, Kylie? But you're just a coward who runs away from everything. You ran away from Marissa and look at what that's done to her! You've ruined her life, you know? If it weren't for you, she wouldn't be suffering right now!" he accused.

Guilt ran through me like hellfire and my anger instantly dissipated.

"You stole everything from her! I hope you're happy." Nick spat.

Before anyone realised what had happened. Nick was suddenly knocked over and lying on the floor with a slightly seared cheek as though he had just been punched with a fist wrapped with fire…

* * *

_**For those who have been asking for Kai's secret to be exposed, I'm sorry to say that her secret as an Ivashkov will have to stay as a secret for a little while longer. There are various things that I have planned to happen which will expose her secret. I'm sorry if this info disappoints anyone T.T**_


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Drew stood above him with a cold condescending glare. He was glaring down at O'Connor as though he was nothing but a pesky bug. The intensity of that gaze was so powerful and so menacing that it even had _me_ flinch.

"You bastard! You just hit me!" Nick shouted at Drew and pointed at him with an accusing finger.

"You didn't seem capable of shutting that filthy mouth of yours, so I did it for you." Drew told him frostily. "If you're as strong as you always claim to be, you would've been able to dodge that attack easily. The next time you intend to insult someone, think about where you stand first."

"Where I stand? I might not have that high of a position at this school compared to you, but it's certainly higher than hers! She's nothing but a conniving slag who has you all wrapped around her finger! There's no way that she would've fairly gotten your attention unless she offered something that you wanted!" Nick argued furiously.

Wind suddenly whirled past me and pushed against Nick, forcing him to slide across the dining room and all the liquids that was in the dining room seemed to surge together and slam into him. Jacks had also rushed past me and held Drew back.

"That's enough!" the guardian commanded. "You six, report to the Head Guardian's office right now!"

"Head Guardian? But we're -" Nick protested.

"You may be Moroi but you attend guardian training therefore placing you under the jurisdiction of a guardian. Go before I drag you by the cuff!" the guardian glared at him menacingly.

"I'll see you three at Assembly." I told the three girls through teeth that were still gritted because of the anger that I felt. Thanks to the amendment of the bracelet earlier by Rosette, I could barely feel my magic trying to break free and pummel Nick to the point of no return.

The six of us walked out of the dining room and Nick was kept at the front by two guardians so that he couldn't possibly provoke us anymore than he already had. I noticed that Drew was still seething with anger and shocked coiled through me when I saw fire suddenly surround his fists. He took a step forward and was about to charge at Nick when a wall of earth appeared in front of him and his fists were dripping with water. I stood directly in front of him with my palm flat on his chest and the wall skimmed my back.

I had moved first it seemed with the twins acting next. No doubt Jacks was preventing Drew from getting himself into deep trouble by creating that wall of earth, as did Quinn. I used the only method that I could use which was to physically step in front of him.

"Drew." I called out to him with a firm tone. His attention had still been directed beyond the wall where Nick was but eventually, he tilted his head down slightly so that he could look at me. I simply shook my head and gazed up at him with serious eyes. Beneath my palm, I could feel him taking a deep breath before letting it out again. He seemed to understand what I wanted to say without me having to actually say anything.

I gave him a small sweet smile, glad that he was able to calm himself before he made a mistake. I was surprised when he suddenly brought his hands up and cupped my cheeks with his large warm hands. He said no words, he didn't even open his mouth, but his eyes said everything for him. The gratefulness was there in his eyes, as was the fury. Fury in my stead for what Nick had said.

"Ahem," the other three coughed noticeably and the intense moment between Drew and I was instantly broken. We both blinked, stared at each other for a moment longer before mirrored grins spread across our faces.

"It seems that I'm not the only impulsive person around here." I smirked at him as his hands dropped and we both took a step away from each other.

"It seems that your recklessness has rubbed off on me," he grinned.

"Why do I get the feeling that that was a complete lie?" I rolled my eyes.

"You think that because it is." Quinn scoffed. "Drew is naturally impulsive."

"Most of the time, he acts before he things it through properly." Jacks added.

"That habit of his has gotten us in trouble far too many times before." Dan sighed.

"Hey, it just goes to show that you're all real." I smiled. "It's more realistic if you're not perfect. It just means that you're not aliens."

"Aliens?" they stared at me in shock.

"Well I can't say that you're human because you're not. That idiom doesn't work or you. So I settled for saying that you're not aliens." I smiled sheepishly.

"That certainly makes more sense," they laughed.

"We should probably go before the guardians think that we've made a run for it." I suggested.

"We _could_ make a run for it…" Quinn grinned.

"But I think that Kai should meet the Head Guardian." Drew shook his head. "It might come as a surprise for her."

"Why?" I frowned.

"The Head Guardian is a woman."

"So? The Head Guardian when Rose Hathaway was in school was a woman." I rolled my eyes and tapped the wall of earth. "Jacks, you should probably get rid of this."

"You're probably right about that," he chuckled and with a gesture of his hand, the earth was thrown towards the forest where it belonged.

The five of us went to Aunty Jules' main office which was not far from Martin's office. The door was left open for us and we walked in calmly with passive expressions on our faces. Nick had already begun trying to plead his case that it was our fault and not his. After about a minute of his incessant blabbering, Aunty Jules held up her hand and literally commanded him to shut up.

"Hello Guardian… Belikov." I smiled politely and made sure that I paused to pretend to read her name plate on her desk before greeting her. "My name is Kylie Valentine, I'm the new kid." I briefly introduced myself.

"Ah yes, I've heard about you. The one who managed to beat one of my best tag team guardians," she smiled in amusement as she rested her chin on the bridge formed by her hands.

"Your 'best tag team'?"

"Yes, Guardian Maxwell and Guardian Jenson form one of the best pairs that we've got in this Academy and in our entire vampire community. Their co-operation with one another is exceptional."

"It is..?" I stared at her in shock.

"Wait a minute… you beat Jenson?" the four royals stared at me in shock.

"GUARDIAN Jenson for you four." Aunty Jules corrected them. I couldn't help but smile at that. She always did have a thing for manners.

"Sorry, Guardian Belikov," they apologised to her before turning their attention back to me.

"You beat both of them?" Dan stated dumbly.

"Maybe…" I trailed off shyly.

"You saying maybe means that you beat them." Jacks rolled his eyes.

"Well done." Quinn grinned and smacked me on the back.

"Anyway!" I squealed with embarrassment. "We're not here to talk about that. We're here about what happened just now in the dining hall."

"Ah yes. What did happen there?" Aunty Jules asked sternly and the amusement disappeared instantly from her eyes.

"It was their fault!" Nick shouted immediately as soon as he had the chance.

"I was not asking for _your_ opinion, O'Connor," she told him coolly. "I've already heard enough from you before those five even got here."

"Well… I suppose that I started it." I said thoughtfully and the four royals stared at me in surprise.

"You're joking." Quinn blinked.

"You did not just say that." Jacks dead panned.

"How could you think that?" Dan commented.

"Are you an idiot?" Drew stated bluntly and I glared childishly at him at the insult.

"Well it's because of me that he got angry." I tried to reason.

"The blockhead got angry because he couldn't stand the fact that we left his table and joined yours." Jacks rolled his eyes.

"You only got involved to defend us." Dan added.

"He started it all because he came up to you first and riled you." Quinn stated.

"So, actually Guardian Belikov, none of us have any guilt in saying that it's totally his fault," the four of them said and glared at Nick.

"But, it is to my understanding that three of you used magic against him." Aunty Jules said.

"Yes. That was our fault."

"Then as punishment, you four shall be banned from training practice for an entire week and that includes training outside of school hours," she stated with a firm tone that left no room for debate. "As for you, O'Connor, from what the guardians have told me. You are mostly at fault and what you said to Valentine is inexcusable. You are to be placed under house arrest for two full weeks including the weekends."

Nick's eyes bulged and stared at her in shock. "You can't possibly mean that."

"I do not say things that I do not mean, O'Connor. You are all dismissed with the exception of Valentine." Aunty Jules commanded and everyone left me alone in the office with her.

"Good luck, Kai. She probably just wants to welcome you to the Academy or something…" Quinn whispered to me as he passed me.

I gave them reassuring smiles that I would be just fine and I was shocked to find that as soon as the doors closed, a file hit me straight in the face. "Ow!" I squealed in surprise and glared childishly at her for her own immaturity. "Did you have to throw a file? You're meant to be the controlled one!"

"How could you put yourself in danger like that!" she shouted.

"It was under control. I wasn't running away, just staying loyal to my team and school, that's all." I argued defensively.

"I'm not talking about breaking out. While I am angry about that too, not nearly as angry as about the fact that you jumped straight into the fight."

"It was to protect Lady Drozdov. You're not going to make a flawed argument about how I should've protected myself first before protecting her are you? I might have been away for six years and lived in the mortal world, Aunty Jules, but I still remember that our motto goes something along the lines of: 'They come first.'"

"That only applies when you're a guardian and a dhampir in training!"

"I am a dhampirs in training."

"But you're not _just_ a dhampir in training. You're my niece, and more importantly, you're the _last_ surviving _Ivashkov_."

"You're really emphasising the family name there."

"I'm heavily emphasising it because you don't seem to understand. Royal families are decreasing by the century. During Rose Hathaway's generation, about two or three royal families were wiped out entirely. We can't afford to lose another one. At the rate that we're going, there will be none left."

"Is that really such an issue?" I sighed tiredly.

"What are you talking about? Of course it is!"

"It isn't." I stated bluntly. "What is there to differentiate royals from ordinary Moroi? It is almost nothing but a title that has others fawning over them. Being a royal offers no advantages. It's not like they're extra powerful or anything. A royal is only a royal because of their family name, because of something that their ancestors had done thousands of years ago."

"Kai, royalty is royalty. It establishes a system that is much easier to follow, that is all. Without the existence of royal families, the election of monarchy is much harder than you could possibly imagine. Think of it as having different political parties."

"Yes, but members of political parties do not have people falling at their feet for their favour."

"Perhaps, but the existence of royalty is in our culture, in our tradition. It's not something we can just wipe out and expect to be able to adapt. Not to mention, there is one thing that you don't know of just yet. It's normally something that you learn in the last year as a dhampir in training. The reason why royals are so important, is because of their ability to cast the charms against Strigoi. You may not know yet, but royals have much more power than you think. Magically, they are superior as well."

"They are?"

"Yes."

"So they're not really just royals in name?"

"No, they're not."

"Oh…"

"That is why the Strigoi make royals their biggest target, because with them gone, our protection against them weakens."

"And that would be very bad." I grimaced.

"That would be an understatement," she sighed. "You had better go or you'll be late for Assembly. This is the one Assembly that you mustn't be late for."

"I take it, you've heard?"

"Oh I've heard alright. About all of it. We can talk more about that later, for now, run so that you won't be late."

"Yes, Ma'am." I saluted with a cheeky grin before running out of her office and down the halls towards the chapel where Assembly was held. I met the other three girls at the entrance and they all beckoned at me as soon as they saw me. We rushed inside and took our seats towards the back since that was the only place where there were seats left.

This Assembly was somewhat solemn because Martin paid tributes to the two guardians who had died. When he began to talk about the ceremony that was going to take place later, he also read out the names of those who would be getting their tattoos, and also the number and type of tattoos that they would be getting. Being the somewhat dramatic person that he was, he left my name till last.

Whispers erupted throughout the entire chapel when he called out my name and the whispering became open chatter when he announced the number and type of tattoos that I would be getting. Martin let everyone talk for a moment before calling for silence and the three girls turned to stare at me in confusion and shock but they had to hold their questions for until the Assembly was over.

"You had made four more kills before the five that you made earlier?" Ingrid screamed at me in shock.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"That's absolutely incredible."

"I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want you to be scared of me. I wanted to be normal so I asked them to keep it a secret." I told them with a hushed tone.

"When did that happen?"

"That night when the guardians caught me." I told them.

"The night that you were dragged to the school?"

"Yeah."

"So that was why you fringed when we asked you how you were found out."

"Yeah, it was kind of hard to hide when they caught me in action." I nodded sheepishly.

"This little prodigy saved our lives that night." Dan stated and casually draped an arm across my shoulders.

"If it weren't for Kai here, one of us would certainly have died because all of the guardians who were assigned to watch us were already preoccupied." Jacks commented with a grim voice.

"Wait, but how did you meet Kai?" Els asked curiously.

"Weren't you guys out on a binge for Dan's party?" Roxy added.

"We were. We went to the most well-reviewed club in that area." Dan nodded.

"Kai's club…" Ingrid nodded in understanding.

"Hey, it's not _my_ club, I just work there." I protested.

"That does explain why you already seemed to be acquainted with the four royals." Els commented.

"Oh! Look at the time! It's time for class so let's go, Els!" I squealed and dragged her hand so that I could run away from the conversation.

"Kai! Slow down!" Els complained. "I won't talk about it anymore, so please, slow down!"

"Sorry…" I murmured and slowed my running to a walking pace. "I just wanted to get away from that conversation as soon as possible."

"You know Kai, I'm glad that it's you." Els smiled sweetly.

"What do you mean?" I frowned in confusion and tilted my head to the side slightly to glance at her.

"I'm glad that the prodigy is you. You don't thrive in it, you're incredibly modest, a little overly so, but I'd rather have that than have someone who brags about their successes."

"Well, I think you'll find that one of the only things that I will brag about is my successes as a soccer player." I grinned with a wink.

"Kylie!" a familiar voice called out and Els and I turned around to see Ingrid's brother's friend, Eric not far behind us with a group of his friends. "Sorry, I'll see you guys later," he told them before strolling towards us in a half jog. "So I guess that you ended up having a different type of party after all. You were the talk of the entire weekend, Kylie."

"Sorry for not being there for your party even though I said that I'd be there. Some things came up and I just had to be there." I apologised.

"That's quite alright, listen, since you're probably heading to a lesson right now, how about we meet up later if you have the time?"

I took a quick glance at Els and she discretely gave me an enthusiastic nod. Her eyes were practically screaming for me to say yes. "Sure thing, would lunch time be okay for you?"

"Lunch time at Rose Hathaway's statue?"

"Okay, I'll see you there." I grinned wryly.

"Let's hope that you don't get dragged off again this time," he smiled flirtatiously and I was surprised when he suddenly leaned down and kissed my cheek. Well he was certainly an openly and actively flirtatious guy. He pulled away and the glance he gave me was filled with an emotion that I couldn't name. Something about it made my spine tingle but I couldn't work out whether it was a good tingle or a bad one. I simply smiled back at him before taking Els' hand and heading towards our classroom.

"Oh my god, congratulations, Kai for getting together with Eric!" Els squealed in delight and practically jumped up and down with joy.

"We're not together."

"Yet." Els winked. "But you will, I can tell. He wants it, and since you didn't reject him, that means that you're not against getting together with him."

"I guess that he does seem nice. We'll see how it goes." I smiled sheepishly at her since I knew that she had hit the nail. I had no reason to reject Eric, if he did want to get together with me.

"Wait a minute… you're hooking up with him, after training!" Els groaned and slapped her forehead in frustration.

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Moroi have heightened senses, he'll smell sweat if you go straight after training."

"Who says that I'll sweat?" I smirked. "Because of what happened this morning at breakfast, none of the four royals are allowed to train at all for the next couple of weeks which means that my highest competition won't be there today. No offence Els, but I don't really think that anyone else in our class is capable of making me sweat if I wanted to avoid it."

"You do have a point there…" she nodded in agreement.

"Els, you could've at least tried to defend yourself there." I sighed in defeat. "I mean really, where is your pride as a fighter. Don't just accept that someone else is better than you at fighting so easily. Strike an argument or something."

"Yes but trying to defend myself against you would be pointless because I've seen you in proper action." Els pointed out.

"That's no reason to not argue." I scoffed.

"Kai, I don't think that many people have the same capability that you have for arguments. Most people just lose them," she laughed and nudged my shoulder playfully.

"Hey, I resent that! I'm not that good at arguments… I don't think…"

"So you say, Kai. So you say."

9


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The walk to Guardian Brooks' Vampire 101 lesson was relatively eventful with Els gushing with excitement. When we actually got to the lesson, silence dawned on the class and everyone turned to stare at me.

"Ah, so little miss runaway has finally decided to grace our lesson." Guardian Brooks commented. Although his words weren't very nice and seemed very sarcastic, there was something in his tone that seemed different. His tone certainly didn't seem to match with his choice of words. It was like he was putting on some kind of a sarcastic front without meaning to or something. This certainly wasn't the same stiff and demonic Guardian Brooks that I remembered.

"Pleasure to see you too, sir." I replied with a similar tone of voice to match his.

"You seem to be the hero of the class, Valentine. You must've been prepared for the outside world."

"Sir, I've lived in the outside world for the past six years, it's nothing alien to me." I retorted as politely as I could but it was hard.

"Well then would you care to explain to us your plans?"

"Plans, sir?"

"What you planned to do to keep the four royals safe. Do you know the consequences of your actions, Valentine?"

"Well sure I do. They followed me of their own accord so I made sure that they'd be safe by staying with them as much as possible and to ensure that they'd be somewhere safe. I would have to say that the only mistake I made this weekend would be the deaths of the two guardians." I told him stiffly. "Where I had lived was entirely safe and I made sure that they stayed there. When they travelled I made sure to be with them and when they were alone, I was sure that there were guardians with them."

"How could you have known that the guardians were there if you didn't contact them until the end?"

"I could sense them." I stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's exactly like being able to tell the difference between dhampirs and Moroi."

"Why did you leave?" one of the students shouted out.

"Because I had a soccer match to play."

"How did you break out?"

"That's for me to know." I smirked.

"I heard that you had sex with the four royals!"

"I heard that she took them to a whore house."

"I heard that she gave blood to them personally!"

"I heard that Els, Ingrid and Roxy were also in on it!"

All these rumours that were already sprouting caused anger to swirl and I took a deep breath before slamming my hand down on the table causing the sound to echo throughout the classroom. I could see that Els was looking somewhat uncomfortable already in her seat as the rumours were shouted out.

"Before anything gets out of hand, let me clarify something. No one had sex, no blood was shed except for that of the Strigoi and the two guardians who passed away and we did not go to a whore house! Anymore misunderstandings you would like for me to clarify?" I demanded with a low and deadly voice.

Everyone stared up at me with wide frightened eyes and the entire class went silent. The silence of the classroom was almost terrifying. I gave a somewhat awkward cough before continuing to talk. "Sir, I came to this lesson to learn. If you're just going to ask me questions to try and push through to me that what I did was stupid then I'll leave and let you teach in peace because I already know that it was. So are we done with making a demonstration out of me or shall I leave?" I asked Guardian Brooks with a level tone.

He seemed to stare at me in surprise for a lengthy moment before giving a small cough and gesturing at my seat. "I want to see you briefly at the end. It won't take long."

"Okay." I nodded and took a seat at my place beside Els. "I'm sorry in advance about the rumours." I whispered to her.

"That's alright, Kai. We've prepared ourselves for it," she smiled sweetly at me. "We've been prepared since day 1."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. We knew without a doubt that it would happen eventually if we stayed by your side."

"Oh…" I commented awkwardly. I wasn't sure whether to be happy or not about the fact that they could already anticipate trouble with being my friend.

I felt that the rest of the lesson rolled by far too slowly. There were constant glances from other people and even from Guardian Brooks. I couldn't really tell what was in his gaze but it certainly wasn't the same distaste as usual. When the lesson finally ended, I was more than glad to have a tiny moment to myself whereby all staring, except for one person's eyes, ceased. It was nice to feel the weight being finally lifted.

"Valentine, firstly, I would like to apologise for making a spectacle out of you like that. It was rude of me, but I wanted to see your conviction about the decision that you made. I wanted to see for myself just how strong you really were. I hope you don't mind me asking but why were you so adamant about breaking out of the school? Were you trying to make some kind of point?"

"No, I left because I needed to help my team."

"Your team?"

"Yeah, I was the captain of a soccer team and we had a crucial match. Two days before the match there was a fight and the match was delayed and possibly cancelled. It was really important for us to have that match, so I decided to go back and support my team in any way."

"How did the others get involved?"

"I told my three friends that I needed to break out for a little while and they followed me, the four royals found me just as I was about to leave. Then they decided to tag along to see the outside life for themselves."

"I see… Did you win?"

"Oh, you bet we did." I smiled proudly. "Thank you for asking about it. I'm sorry for causing an inconvenience."

"From what I've heard, it was our fault to begin with for taking you away without giving you any choice whatsoever." Guardian Brooks commented.

"If I really wanted to, I could've broken out almost straight away." I explained.

"Why didn't you?" he asked curiously.

"Because I saw a valuable opportunity here and because I had a feeling that if the school already knew about me, they might look for me and that would complicate my life far too much. I didn't want that, I wanted to avoid it at all costs so I decided to take a chance and stay here. They said that the final decision was entirely up to me."

"Final decision?"

"Whether I become a Guardian or not."

"Do you think you've made a decision about that yet?"

"I've only been here for a week."

"That doesn't answer my question."

I thought about my answer for a moment before answering him. "I want to graduate, but I have yet to meet someone that I could give my life for." I shook my head. "Until I have found a reason to devote my life to these people, my answer will probably be 'No'."

"That would be a shame," he commented wistfully. "I had better let you go otherwise Guardian Valiere may complain that I have kept you all to myself."

"Thank you, Guardian Brooks, for not humiliating me when you could have."

"I could've humiliated you. I would've done so if you did not have a just cause for raising uproar in the academy. Thank you for your time and for telling me the truth."

"Not to worry." I shook my head. 2It was a pleasure speaking with you, Guardian Brooks."

"The pleasure is mine," he smiled and it was the first that I'd ever seen him smile. It was surprising and actually made him look a lot more decent and startlingly young. It was probably his dimples that did the trick.

After excusing myself properly, I left the classroom and ran as fast as I could to the other side of the building to get to the H.E. room. I somehow managed to make it there just as the bell rang.

"Congratulations for getting here on time. Elizabeth had already informed me of the possibility that you might be late." Maria smiled warmly at me in greeting.

"Yes, it seemed that there were a couple of things that Guardian wanted to say."

"Please take a seat. Our task for today is to make a desert of your choice." Maria explained.

"Cheesecake." I squealed in excitement and everyone turned in their seats to stare at me for a moment before breaking out into laughter. "Sorry…" I trailed off in embarrassment.

Maria proceeded to give various pieces of advice before letting us get to work. There was a moment when my gaze met Nick's directly and I had expected him to come up with some kind of a snide remark but all he did was give me a brief glare before turning away from me. I blinked in surprise at the lack of confrontation and I realised that what had happened this morning must've affected him more than I'd thought. There was a brief moment when I felt somewhat guilty for what I'd managed to do to his reputation. But, it was about time he got a reality check.

I simply spent the next hour focusing on the task at hand and it took up to the end of the morning break to actually finish, even with Els' keen help. I decided that I would leave the cheesecake for lunch and so Els and I headed straight for combat training.

"Valentine, just for today, you'll be doing something slightly different." Guardian Jenson told me as soon as I had walked into the training room.

"Um… okay…" I nodded uncertainly and followed him out. We walked until we reached a training group made up of a slightly older year and to my surprise, it was a senior class… I even gave a small confused smile when my gaze met Eric's.

"Alright, sorry to suddenly drop this on you but it seemed that I was the only one available to cover this class until we find a suitable teacher to fill in the gap that Guardian Morrison has made. Since you are definitely more than capable, I thought that I would drag you in to help out."

"You want me to help you teach and train a senior class?" I squealed with a quiet tone. "You must be kidding me!"

"Nope, I'm totally being serious here. I need the help, I can't cover a senior training class all by myself. I'd get my ass kicked if I have to deal with all of them on my own. Besides, I'll need the help and you were the first person that came to mind."

"But I'm only in my second year!" I argued.

"Does that make any difference to your skill?"

"No but I'm sure that they won't appreciate someone younger than them training them. I really think that you should reconsider your decision."

"I think that you would be fine as our instructor." Eric piped up, having heard our conversation. "It would spice things up a bit and it would be interesting to see what you would do."

I turned to look at the seniors and they all seemed to stare expectantly at me. I threw my arms up in defeat and gave a heavy sigh. "Let's do a run for a warm up. Three laps." I commanded as I felt my 'captain' personally slip into place. I took off at what I felt to be a reasonable pace and Crispin kept up with me while everyone else lagged slightly behind us. "Guardian Jenson, if it's possible, could I please talk to you about something?"

"Of course. When?"

"Our extra training?"

"That sounds like a plan," he agreed.

Once the three laps were done, both Crispin and I were still perfectly fine while some others seemed to pant slightly and a couple had had to remove one of their layers. These guys were meant to be seniors and they couldn't even handle something as simple as that? I didn't think that I ran that fast for them to keep up but apparently not…

When it came to physical training, everyone had to partner up and Eric requested for me to be his partner. Tom blinked in surprise and I guessed that he was Eric's usual training partner, but he didn't seem to take offense of being abandoned by his friend. Instead, he seemed to give me a smile of encouragement but there was a hint of warning there in his eyes. I wasn't really sure what it was about, but a slight feeling of unease settled over me.

Tom easily found another partner and I couldn't help but smile in amusement when I glanced at Crispin. It seemed that he was rather popular as many dhampir girls tried to be his 'suitable' partner. The sight of their squabble made me laugh but Eric soon captured my attention.

Eric made a lunge for me and I tore my attention from the amusing event to dodge his advance. I shifted my stance ever so slightly so that it would be more steady and faced him with an amused gaze.

"Why the sudden change in partner?" I asked as I ducked down while he aimed for a grip around my neck.

"My curiosity about your skills got the best of me," he grinned as he flexed his shoulders.

"Oh?"

"I wondered just how much the rumours were true about you."

"Rumours?"

"That you took on an army of Strigoi all on your own."

"That's blatantly a lie, you'd have to be crazy to believe something like that!"

"It could be true, it's been done before."

"Doubt it."

"Rose Hathaway was capable of it."

"Rose Hathaway had the power passed onto her from Lissa Dragomir. If it wasn't for the darkness, even a legend such as Rose Hathaway couldn't have managed something like that." I scoffed.

He suddenly dropped down and grabbed my legs. I lost balance for a moment as he mercilessly lifted me up into the air by my ankles. I curled my body over his shoulder and with the help of gravity I managed to reach my hands to the ground. With my newfound balance I used enough force to drag my legs over in an arc. Now Eric was the one to lose balance and he chose to release my ankles. I continued my flip and landed softly on my toes.

This time I took the initiative and lunged at him. He tried to make me falter with a punch towards my head but I ducked at the last second and kicked upwards. Eric managed to block the kick with his other arm but he did stumble backwards a few paces due to the force of my attack. The astonished expression on his face showed that he clearly hadn't expected me to actually be all that good. A serious look passed over his face and I noticed the way his gaze seemed to change. The way he looked at me was no longer playful, his gaze hardened and his stance seemed to become firmer as well.

"Huh, guess I surpassed your expectations, Eric." I smiled with pride.

"Just a little. Seems that unless I get at least a little serious, I'll get my ass whipped by you."

"A little serious? Dude, you're going to get a lot more serious than that."

"Pride?"

"Ya think? Boys aren't the only ones who are allowed to have an ego you know."

"Well then, let's see you live up to it, Kylie."

I felt my pride flare and I couldn't help but feel that he was belittling me far too much. I had considered going easy on him and saving his own pride, but the way he spoke to me was too provoking. I could feel my temper rising ever so slightly but I let a small smirk slide onto my face.

"Don't say that you've never had any warning, Eric." I commented dryly and took a better stance.

When he charged at me, I was ready for it and when the timing was right I stepped to the side ever so slightly, curved my body to avoid the attack, span on the spot and threw a punch to his chest. I could feel the whiz of air hit my bare skin as he doubled over the crook of my arm for a moment. He gave a small splutter and he forced himself away. A flash of anger flashed across his eyes for a moment and a shudder passed through me.

This time, when he moved, he was much faster than before and I barely had a second to think. The only thought was to dodge it and dodge I did. I barely managed to duck and roll to the side and I wasn't even back on my feet when he came at me again. His movements were purely irrational but it seemed to work for him. It made him faster and stronger, so much that I could barely keep up with him.

Slowly I could feel my body become heavier. The change was minimal, but enough for me to be unable to control my movements as well as I should. Just that little amount of difference changed the fight completely. I had to think differently, think up ways to cover up for my lack of speed.

Eventually, I managed to get one hit in through his defence. For the past five minutes, I had been forced to play on the defence but I managed to find a small opening. Just when I thought I managed to land one hit on him, there was an audible smack as my fist came into contact with his palm. My head snapped up in shock as his hand closed over my fist firmly.

I wasn't sure why, but when I saw the lustful gleam reflected in his eyes, my mind ceased to think at all. I let out a small gasp as his leg curved around mine and in my moment of blank-mindedness, I lost my balance completely and tumbled backwards. Another thing that surprised me was the fact that he purposely chose to fall down _on top _of me.

There were some occasions when I didn't mind a guy being so cheeky, especially not when the guy was a fit one. But for some reason, despite the fact that Eric was too hot for his own good, I wasn't appreciating the fact that he was on top of me very much. Something must've shown on my face because he gave a small chuckle. The chuckle irritated me so my head snapped up with a glare.

I blinked when my eyes connected with his and once again the gaze filled with such want had my body twitching with desire for what this guy could do to me. My mind blanked once again and all traces of irritation instantly fled. When I couldn't withstand his intense gaze any longer, I turned my head away. The movement was pointless because a second later I found myself staring at him once again in pure shock. I could feel his knee rubbing against the area between my legs and a quiet gasp escaped through my lips as he continued to inch his knee even further.

Both surprise and gratefulness flooded through me when Eric was suddenly pulled away by none other than Tom, Ingrid's brother. A look of warning was on his face as he stared at Eric and a concerned expression replaced the warning as he turned to face me with an outstretched hand. I accepted his help without a moment's hesitation and I somehow managed to stand up despite my shaky knees. I was glad when Eric walked away but I didn't miss the glance that he sent me over his shoulder as he stepped away.

"Thank you…" I whispered breathlessly to him as I tried to gather my wits.

"Are you okay?" Tom asked worriedly with a hushed tone.

"Yeah, just about. Not quite sure what just happened though." I smiled sheepishly.

"Thankfully nobody else saw and I made sure to break it up before Eric took it too far and people did see."

"Thank you for your help. I didn't think that I'd ever need it, but I certainly needed it then."

"You're welcome. Not to mention, if Ingrid finds out that I didn't help you out, she'd probably try to skin me alive."

I noted how Tom had used the word 'try' in his comment but didn't say anything of it. "Pfft, considering how the three of them seem to like the idea that Eric has taken an interest in me so much, I think that they're probably more likely to attack you because you pulled him away." I scoffed.

"Well then, let's keep this as a little secret between the two of us, shall we?" he winked with a playful smile.

9


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

From then until the end of training, I made sure that I wasn't alone with Eric again. After what happened during our little spar, I was still somewhat confused about what had really happened back there. There was no reason why I should've lost that fight. Perhaps it was the constant fights that I'd had recently with the Strigoi and I hadn't fully recovered my body's strength yet. That must've been it. That would explain why my body seemed to be moving a little slower than usual.

When the lesson ended, it was no surprise when Eric strolled towards me. What I was not expecting was such an intense stare from him. It was a gaze that seemed to hold a promise of a continuum of what had nearly happened between us had Tom not interrupted us. I pushed down the surprise that I felt and simply gave him a cheeky smile.

"Well it sure looks like someone got a little over excited during our lesson." I winked playfully at him.

"What can I say? Attractive girls have that effect on me," he shrugged.

"You sure do know how to please a girl, don't you, pretty boy?"

"I appreciate the compliment, I've never had any complaints so far."

"A professional playboy, I'd better watch out then before I get bitten." I smirked.

"We shall see how things go," he chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders casually. People pointed and stared as we passed through the main courtyard of the Academy to get to Rose Hathaway's statue. There were whisperings all around us and had it been six years ago, I would have squirmed and tried everything I could to shy away from the attention. Now, I simply gave them friendly smiles as we passed them.

The walk to the statue seemed to take a surprisingly long time and it took me a while to realise that Eric had actually taken the long way to get to our destination. It seemed that my memory of where everything was in the Academy was still a little rusty. I knew that I would have to fully refresh my memory soon just in case any accidents were to happen.

The last thing that I would ever want would be to not be able to form a rescue plan at a rapid pace. When we got to the statue, he began to lead me onto a small hidden path that I had no recollection of. The only possibility that came to mind was that this path had been made after I'd left and it seemed highly possible that Eric had been the one to make it.

I tried to note every possible minute detail that we passed. The wretched thing about the woods surrounding the Academy was that it was almost impossible to recognise one's way around unless you were trained to notice tiny details. This path was certainly no exception and somehow, it seemed even harder to find tell-tale signs because everything seemed so uncharacteristically identical. It was as though someone purposefully made it that way to prevent someone from being able to find their way.

That made me wonder how Eric managed to make his way through without any difficulty at all. There must have been something that I missed. But what? There was nothing that stood out at all.

"Where are we going Eric?" I asked curiously. My nerves twitched nervously for a moment. He could be leading me _anywhere_ and I wouldn't be able to find my way back without his guidance. If he were to try something on me, I wouldn't be able to get away from him. I would be entirely trapped and for a moment fear gripped me.

"A place that you're bound to love," he told me simply with a reassuring smile.

That smile of his did anything but reassure me. If anything it made my nerves jitter even more and I even contemplated on telling him that I was beginning to feel uncomfortable but my pride took hold as the thought flittered across my mind and held me back.

Eventually, I began to hear other voices. There was laughter and grunts and groans of pain it seemed and it made me more curious than ever. A clash of fear and excitement rushed through me when his hand suddenly took mine and led me forward at a faster pace.

We broke out of the woods into a large clearing and I felt my heart skip a beat as my eyes widened in awe. All around the clearing were people whom I didn't recognise and they were all training intensely with one another with a mixture of magic and combat techniques. In the very centre of the clearing was the most stunning and complicated assault course I'd ever seen as flares of magic flashed throughout the entire course.

Different people raced against one another to complete the course while others seemed to be playing a game of capture the flag that was tied around two people's heads. My mind was blown by what I saw and excitement took over all other emotions. My fingers itched and I clenched and unclenched my fists.

"Oh my god…" I murmured in shock.

"I told you that you're bound to love it." Eric smirked and kissed the back of my hand.

"What… what is this place?"

"This is a training ground specifically designed for the seniors. We don't get good just by going through normal training, you know. Well, we do, but we get even better with something like this. Several yards further is a simulation course with derelict buildings and high walls for us to play Ghost."

"Ghost… as in the game where some people are chosen to play victims while others are chosen to play as the predator and you hunt each other down?" I arched my brows at him.

"That exact one," he nodded. "You know it?"

"I know of the human version. We used to play it after a party in the early hours of the morning around school."

"Well, this game would be nothing like you'd ever imagined."

"I can't wait to try it…" I let out a mesmerised breath.

"We do have 45 minutes to spare before lunch. Are you interested?" he smirked.

"Do you even have to ask?" I retorted with eyes wide with excitement.

"Let me just warn you, there will definitely be magic involved and those who you think are your friends might not be."

"Got it." I nodded fervently.

"Alright then," he grinned. "Hey guys! Listen up, we're starting up a game of Ghost with our latest addition here!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and cheered before turning to me.

"Hey, isn't that the latest little prodigy? How've you managed to snag her before I managed to get to her man?" one of the seniors groaned in disappointment as he leaned down slightly to get a better look at me. He eyed me up and down before whistling in appreciation.

"So you're the little chick that managed to get rid of Marissa, well done girl," another commented.

"I didn't mean to do it." I protested.

"You did us all a favour Kylie, that girl was getting on my nerves far too much," someone scoffed.

"Now let's get this game on the road!" Eric hollered. "Same team leaders as always, Jack and Tilley you're up!"

I was more than surprised when a flash of fire suddenly whirled across the field and a column of earth cut it short. Two people stepped out from the crowd and began to throw attack after attack at each other with cheeky grins on both their faces. Eventually, Jack who was the fire user fell onto his back in surprise and he glared playfully at Tilley.

"That was unfair!" he complained.

"There are no rules saying that we can't use elements that aren't our specialised ones," she winked at him before offering him a hand up. "I call first dibs on Kylie Valentine."

"Eh?" I squealed in shock and stared at her.

"Well why not? I'd much rather be pleasantly surprised than be ambushed by you if you were on the other team." Tilley reasoned with a smile. "Welcome aboard Kylie."

"Pleasure." I nodded enthusiastically.

"Then I call dibs on Ghost. Eric, get your butt over here." Jack smirked at Tilley. "If you lose this round, you owe me a week's worth of food."

"If I win, you owe me a week's worth of me copying ALL of our homework." Tilley winked with full confidence.

I hastened to try and remember everyone's names as they were called out to join each team. In total there were around thirty of us and due to the rules, there were two more preys than predators.

"Same rules apply. We'll have Kylie be the flag this time." Tilley grinned.

"The flag?" I arched my brows.

"It's the other way of winning the game. If the flag gets pinned with three witnesses from both teams, the Ghost wins."

"Wow… that is an interesting adaptation."

"It spices things up a little bit and makes it seem more like a training simulation."

"I do see what you mean. In this case, the flag is the Moroi while the others in the same team are the Guardians and the ghosts are the Strigoi."

"That's completely right, you're totally getting the hang of this, Kylie."

"Cheers." I smiled.

"You guys have three minutes to get yourselves ready." Jack informed us and without wasting any time, Tilley's team scattered through the woods and I followed her towards the derelict buildings.

They were my best chance of staying free throughout the entire game. Adrenaline rushed through me with every step that I took and the prospect of the unfamiliar grounds excited me even more. They had an advantage that I didn't have regarding to their knowledge of this place. Since I didn't know anything about it, it simply made it more dangerous and that excited me.

As soon as I saw the derelict building, I focused on going up. That way, there would be less opportunities of ambush. Although I had prepared myself for the prospect of this being a magical gam of Ghost, I still couldn't help but be surprised when I heard the various explosions. This had to be one of the most serious games of Ghost I had ever played.

I got my first sign of not being alone anymore when I sensed the presence of a Moroi stepping into the building. I tensed and listened carefully for when he or she would find me. I glanced out of the window and noticed someone from my team in the building opposite mine. He seemed to be gesturing something and I realised that he was trying to let me know where the opposition was. I smiled gratefully at him and then I noticed that someone was approaching him as well. I tried to alert him but I wasn't fast enough and they were engaged in a fight.

"Well, who'd have thought that the first person I found would be Kylie," a deep voice chuckled and I whirled around and cursed at my own foolishness at being distracted.

If I remembered rightly, the blond haired senior's name was Jason. I gave him a small grin and he smiled in return. With the flick of his wrist I felt the gust of wind push against me from behind, propelling me towards him. I didn't do anything as I fell towards him until the last moment when I kicked the group and jumped over him.

"It'll take more than that to snatch me I'm afraid." I grinned and ran up onto the roof. Once there, I took a brief glance at the distance between the buildings before jumping off the roof. My hands reached out and I grabbed the edge of the building before pulling myself up to safety.

"Are you crazy, Kylie?" Jason called out from the window. "You could have gotten yourself killed if you fell!"

"I wouldn't have fallen. I know how far I can jump!" I called back and gave a small wave before turning on my heel.

For the next twenty minutes or so, I remained uncaptured. In fact, I managed to avoid bumping into people on the general whole so that I wouldn't get caught. In the last five minutes though, I could tell that things were reaching a finale. The number of explosions increased and things were getting closer and closer to where I was.

I braced myself for a fight when I heard the footsteps approaching where I had been sitting on a crate. I wasn't sure how it was possible, but by the time I realised it, it was already too late. I felt the presence behind me and instantly lashed out without another thought. My fist connected with flesh and I stared at the blank space for several moments before a shape finally began to materialise.

It was Eric.

But how had he done that? He was standing right in front of me and I didn't even see him.

And then I knew.

He was a Spirit user. He had to have been to be able to command such powerful compulsion. I wasn't one to easily fall under the spell of the compulsion so I knew that no ordinary Moroi could've influenced me the way he had. So far as I remembered, only Spirit users had that power over me. Even then the Spirit user had to be highly experienced and powerful regarding compulsion to be able to influence me.

I jumped away from him and the pair of us circled each other. This felt like the fight from earlier in the training session all over again. Now that I knew he was here, there was no point for him to continue with the invisibility charade.

"How did you do that?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"A very handy skill known as compulsion."

"That's a Moroi skill, isn't it?"

"You got that right, Kylie," he smirked.

"Are there any more tricks that you want to warn me about before I make a total fool of myself?"

"None that I can think of. And you'd never make a fool out of yourself."

"Well, hopefully not."

I thought that I was prepared for it when he finally tackled me. I honestly did. So how the hell did I end up on my back with his body settled firmly over mine? It wasn't even the first time this happened! This was the second! Honestly, why was this happening to me?

His hand reached down and stroked my cheek. His eyes shone with a lust filled gleam and I gave a shudder. It had been a while since someone had stared at me as intently as he had. While I may not have been a slut, it was still a very big compliment to have someone had handsome as Eric was to stare at me like that.

To stare at me with so much desire.

I shifted slightly and decided to play along. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tugged his head down a little so that we were closer together. I might know that I didn't love this guy, but that didn't mean that we couldn't try dating. I wasn't a slut, but I was the type of girl who believed in showing emotions through actions rather than words.

"I want you, Kylie. You have no idea how hard it is for me to not just ravage you senseless right here and now."

"Well then I guess I should be thankful for your self-restraint." I grinned cheekily and ran a hand through his hair.

A low, and almost feral, growl slipped past his lips and I stared up at him in amusement.

"Oh the things that you do to me, Kylie. You drive boys crazy, you know that?"

"I have been told on several occasions."

"Be my girlfriend, Kylie."

I stared up at him in surprise. I really should have seen that one coming. I wondered for a moment about whether Eric was the possessive type or not. That might be why he wanted me to be his girlfriend so quickly. He wanted to claim me before anyone else had the chance to. I'd met countless guys who were like him and for a moment, I wanted to think that Eric wasn't one of those types. I wasn't sure why, but I kind of wanted things to work out between Eric and me. He seemed like a nice enough guy after all.

"It's only my second week here, I'm not sure I want to commit so quickly."

"Then how about a compromise. Be my girlfriend for now, and if you find someone else that you want to be with more than me, we'll talk it out." Eric reasoned. "Though, I doubt that you will. Find someone else that is."

"Well someone sounds confident."

"What can I say, I've never had any complaints before. Nor have I ever been dumped before."

"So you were the one who ended things?"

"I haven't had all that many relationships."

"But you've had flings."

"All guys have had flings, Kylie."

"Ain't that the truth." I scoffed. "I hope that I am not one of your casual flings, Eric, because I won't hesitate to kick your ass to kingdom come if I find out that you're playing me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Well then I guess I accept. There's not really any reason for me to reject you anyway."

"So how about a kiss to seal the deal?" he glanced down at me and I noticed how he was focusing mainly on my lips.

"Only if you promise to be a good kisser." I smirked.

There was no time for a response. He wasted no time to seal his lips over mine and I had to give him credit. He was a damn good kisser! I wasn't a slut, nor was I a saint. Even I had my share of stories and experiences with guys. Though I said that, I was still a virgin and a proud one at that. Most of the guys on my soccer team were surprised because they were all confident that there would have been someone in our school who had enough charms to at least get me into bed, but nope, apparently not.

The closest I had got was with someone in the drama department. We had been going out for three months and things got pretty hot and heavy between us. But before we actually went through with it, we both decided to stop. He was feeling nervous because it was his first as well and he admitted that he was mainly trying to get me in bed because I was apparently the most popular conquest in school. It was an unspoken competition between the lads to get me in bed.

He was surprised that I had already known about it, and then I explained to him that I was surrounded by the most laddish boys in the entire school most of the time due to the fact that I was in the soccer team. We came to a mutual agreement that it was probably best for us to go back to being friends and we did. Nothing changed between us and I was happy for him when he found a new girlfriend whom he was absolutely head over heels for a couple of weeks later.

Eric sat up, pulling me up with him and he never broke the kiss. He sat me on his lap and placed my legs on either side of his hips for better positioning. My hands weaved through his hair and one of his hands was in my hair while the other was on my hip. Eventually he moved his lips from mine because we had to breathe but he never stopped kissing me. Instead of attacking my mouth, his lips trailed down my face and he moved on to my neck.

I shuddered at the sensation and I flinched in surprise when I felt a fang brush my skin. I stiffened and pushed his shoulders gently so that he knew I was uncomfortable about that.

"Sorry, sort of got caught up in the moment there," he told me breathlessly.

His eyes were clouded over with desire but I could see the trace of bloodlust in his eyes. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and gave him a small smile. "I think you need to go to the feeders."

"I take it they've informed you of that little tradition about us vampires."

"They told me on the first day of school. It was so that I wouldn't freak out if I accidentally walked past a feeding session or something." I shrugged.

"What do you think about it?"

"Think about what?"

"The idea of having such an intimate experience with someone."

"You mean the whole blood taking thing."

"Yes."

"I think of it as a necessity but I certainly have no plans of being the meal." I told him bluntly.

"Shame."

I glanced at him in surprise at his response. I could see it in his eyes. He wanted to. He wanted to bite me, but he had refrained from doing so because of the rules. I also noticed the hint of challenge in his eyes. Eric was the type of person to try what he could to get what he wanted, that much was for sure.

* * *

**_Oh. My. God... I'm soooooo excited! For those who don't already know, - and for those who do know I'm sorry if this is getting repetitive - but I might be able to publish an actual book! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I really can't wait! And now I am just one step closer having just finished writing the blurb. What's left now is to finished the third edit and then phone up the publishers! YAY!_**


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Eric took my advice and headed for the feeders. The game had ended with a draw and everyone headed for lunch. I easily found my usual table and sat down beside Ingrid. Els wasted no time in asking questions.

"What happened? I thought you were hooking up with Eric?"

"I was and I already have. He's gone to the feeders." I told her.

"So? What happened?" Roxy asked curiously. "Are you guys together yet?"

"Apparently so." I nodded.

"Apparently?"

"Well we came to an understanding that we'll try it for a while and see how it goes. It is only my second week after all so I'm not really all that sure about committing just yet."

"But you are going out." Ingrid asked.

"Yes."

"Congratulations!" the three girls squealed and threw their hands up in the air in delight.

"What's the cheer about?" Dan asked curiously as he sat at the table. Soon the other three royals joined him.

"Don't you guys have to feed?" I arched my brows at them.

"Already done." Jacks shrugged.

"So what was with the commotion?" Quinn probed.

"Kai and Eric are officially an item!" Roxy beamed.

"Eric? As in Eric Cooper?" Dan stared at me in shock.

"He's the most respected senior in the whole school." Jacks added.

"That's the one." Els nodded.

"How did that happen?" Quinn asked curiously.

"It's a little fast paced but he asked and I didn't really have a good reason to reject him so we're testing the water for the time being." I explained to them.

"Wow, Eric sure wasted no time." Dan whistled.

"How do you feel about the ceremony in about half an hour's time?" Drew cut in.

I blinked in surprise when I heard the hint of spite in his tone. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that he sounded a little annoyed. I glanced up at him to find that neither his expression nor his eyes betrayed anything of what he was feeling. He looked passive which was a somewhat odd. It meant that he was actually making an effort to hide his emotions and I suddenly felt like I was back to square one.

Something about that irritated me but I pushed the feeling aside for now. For now, I would leave it, but I would confront him about it if it carried on. I didn't know what I did to make him be like that. If I did something wrong, I would much rather know about it than have to remain clueless while he acted like an idiot.

"I'm not really sure. I mean, all I will have to do is just lie there while they give me the damn tattoos, right?" I asked uncertainly.

This was the one area that I wasn't all that familiar with. I could only remember ever having seen a ceremony once and that I was when I was about five so I couldn't really remember all that much about it. I knew that it was a grand thing, especially if the one receiving the tattoo was a student like I was now. I remembered there being quite a large crowd but other than that, it wasn't anything that special.

"In a sense, yes, that is all you have to do." Jacks nodded.

"But the most important thing is the fact that you'll be sharing that moment with everyone else in the room. After the ceremony, there won't be a single person who doesn't know who you are." Dan continued.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I'm pretty sure that almost everyone in the whole school knows who you are by now already." Quinn commented with a grin.

"I bloody hope that you're wrong about that." I grimaced. "The idea of having the whole school know who I am is a little creepy."

"You've had people who don't know you know who you are before, that's part of your job remember?" Roxy pointed out.

"Yes but that's different. They know who I am but at the same time they have no idea." I argued.

"How is it different?" Els blinked in confusion.

"Because that's my fan base, I don't have to worry about the idea of them being able to find me easily. People at this school however are different. They have access to me whenever they want. For all I know some random kid might decide to attack me or something."

"I certainly hope that doesn't happen, Kai." Dan laughed.

"I'd feel bad for the poor kid." Quinn smirked.

"You'd probably accidentally pummel him." Jacks grinned and nudged my shoulder playfully.

In retaliation I smacked his head and pouted. "That's mean. I know my own strength, I wouldn't accidentally pummel him. Not unless he really pissed me off."

"AHH! Kylie!" I heard a somewhat high pitched voice yell out and I turned around to find a kid attack me. I blinked in surprise and barely had time to stand and hold my arms open to catch the flying boy.

"Trace." I laughed and swung him around in delight. I held him close for a few moments before holding him slightly away from me so that I could look at him. "What are you doing here?"

"He heard about what happened and ran away to find you." Ali sighed as he approached our table. "I heard that he'd been nothing but trouble when he first heard that you broke out of school."

"Oh?" I arched my brows and looked down at the small boy. "Now, now, Trace, you can't go around causing trouble for the Guardians, do you understand? Not unless they need to be taught a lesson."

"But you weren't around and I missed you," he complained and gazed up at me with those wide innocent eyes of his. I couldn't help but squeal and hug him tight again. He wrapped his arms around my neck and nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck.

"Trace?" a pair of stunned voices called out and I felt Trace stiffen in my arms. I turned my head around to see who Trace had been staring at and I simply watched the trio curiously. There was clearly something that I didn't understand here, because for a moment there, it seemed like Trace knew the two Dragomir twins.

Trace wound his arms tighter around me and seemed to hide his face from the twins and I noticed the sadness that dawned in the pair's eyes before they hardened.

"You must've cause trouble for Guardians, Trace." Quinn stated with a hard, stern voice.

Trace flinched and if possible he pressed even closer to me. I rested my hand gently and comfortingly on the back of his head.

"Trace, at least look at us when we talk to you." Jacks reprimanded and the pair of them stood up.

I wasn't really sure what to do at that moment. Jacks and Quinn clearly knew who Trace was and the younger boy clearly knew who they were too, so why was he cowering? What had happened between the trio for the twins to turn so cold and reprimanding towards such a cute little boy?

Jacks gently but firmly placed his hand on Trace's shoulder to try and force the small boy to look at them. I felt the flare of magic before I actually felt the pain that seared my body as Trace suddenly burst into flames.

"Trace!" the twins shouted at the same time and water was dumped on both of us to get rid of the flames.

"Oh! Kylie I'm so sorry!" Trace cried and clung to me even tighter which somewhat hurt but there was nothing that I could do. I couldn't push him away, not when he seemed to be so terrified.

Quinn stepped forward and raised his hand. Drew shot out of his chair and caught the hand before it came in contact with the back of Trace's head. "Deep breaths, Quinn, and calm down." Drew told him seriously. "For now, I think she needs to go see the nurse."

"I'll be fine, just a little singed but nothing major." I protested.

"Valentine, I think that it would be better for you to have your injuries checked out." Ali cut in and rested a hand on my lower back to guide me out of the dining room.

"I'll catch you guys later!" I hollered over my shoulder as I continued to hold Trace in my arms. When we were away from the twins, Trace seemed to calm down once more and I had to say that I was thoroughly confused.

The three of us headed to Rosette's office and when she saw me she nearly screamed but managed to hold herself back at the last minute. "What on earth happened?" she demanded.

Ali took Trace from my grasp and I noticed how the small boy was staring at me with guilt clear in his eyes. I gave him a warm smile and held his face in my hands. I leaned closer to him and gently rested my forehead on his.

"Trace, I'm alright, this is no big deal. But you must promise me not to do that ever again, not unless you are facing danger, do you hear me? If it had been anyone else, they would have been seriously hurt and hurting others is never a good thing, even when it was done unintentionally."

"I'm so sorry, Kylie, I'm really, really sorry," he sobbed.

I wiped his tears away with my thumbs and gave him a soft kiss on his nose. "Just calm down, I'm fine." I reassured him and pulled his cheeks out to show him who was the boss.

He squealed in protest but giggled at the same time the way that little kids often did. He pushed my hands away and stared indignantly up at me. That was when I finally noticed the resemblance. Normally, I was quite observant, except for when it came to family resemblances. I wasn't sure why, but unless I really analysed someone's face, or someone had told me before hand, I often wouldn't realise that certain people were related.

I didn't know how I could have missed such an obvious clue. Trace's jaded eyes were almost identical to the twins. That meant that without a doubt, the trio were somehow related.

"Right, Alistair, I want you to go outside and wait until I call you back in while I check out her injuries." Rosette commanded like the assertive woman that she was and Ali left without argument. "Take off your top," she told me simply and I did as I was told.

Surprisingly, the burns really didn't hurt as much as I had expected them to. Perhaps I had Quinn to thank for that. If he hadn't put out the fire as quickly as he had, the burns probably would've been worse. Yes, it hurt, but it was more of irritating sting rather full-on pain.

Rosette leaned in close and inspected the minor burns as she pursed her lips. "I won't ask what happened, but I do want you to be more careful in the future. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am." I grinned cheekily and she gave me a roll of the eyes before flicking my forehead for my cheekiness.

Rosette left the office, leaving me alone with Trace. I tugged him over so that he sat on my lap facing me. I ran my hair through his ridiculously wild hair and tried to tame it for several moments but nothing that I did worked. While I was messing with his hair, Trace merely sat there, smiling in contentment.

Eventually I gave up and simply rested my hands on his cheeks. He glanced up at me curiously and I stared at him in concern. He seemed to sense the seriousness in my gaze and the smile dropped. I wished that I didn't have to take the smile away from him, but I wanted to know what had just happened back there. I wanted to know why Trace was so against the twins.

"Trace, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but what happened back there? Why were you so scared of Jacks and Quinn?" I asked softly.

"I don't like them, they are scary," he told me honestly.

"Why are they scary? Did they do something to you?"

"They are always shouting at me whenever I see them. They don't like me and I think that I make them really mad."

"I'm sure that that's not true, Trace. Jacks and Quinn are really good people and I think that they actually really care about you, Trace. They just don't know how to show it well."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." I nodded and gave him a beaming smile of reassurance.

"But… big brother Jackson' power is really scary…"

Well that certainly confirmed my suspicion. So they were brothers after all. But since when? I could remember that when I had left, I couldn't remember there being another Dragomir child. Perhaps it had happened just after I left. That would make sense.

"You mean his control over earth?"

"It's really scary."

"But it is really awesome, Trace." I shook my head at him. "It can also be really beautiful."

"How?" he beamed up at me innocently and I gave a small chuckle.

I looked around me to make sure that there was absolutely no one around and I noticed the flowerpot on the windowsill of the office. I had noticed it earlier that morning and I had also noticed that morning that the flower hadn't bloomed yet. I took a risk. Rosette had strengthened my bracelet so it should be alright. I could never do anything destructive without things going out of control, but there were various minor things that I could do that didn't require too much power.

"I'm going to show you a secret, Trace, but you must promise me to never tell anyone." I smiled at him.

"I promise," he nodded enthusiastically.

"Then watch that flowerpot." I told him and turned him around so that he was facing away from me.

I stretched my hand out and slowly and softly made several gestures with my hand. I tried to remember what my father had taught me all those years ago and I gave a small smile as I felt the magic wash over me. At first, nothing happened, but then the flower bulb slowly opened into a beautiful flower in full bloom.

Trace gave a squeal of delight and jumped off of my lap. He dashed over to the flowerpot and stared at it in open awe. I smiled and walked over as I tugged my top back on to kneel beside him to admire the flower.

"Remember Trace, our gifts can be used in many different ways. It doesn't have to be destructive. It depends on the user and sometimes, our gifts can make miracles happen."

"I will be good! I want to help people with my magic!" he beamed and wrapped his arms around my neck.

"I know you will, Trace. I know." I patted the back of his head and wrapped my other arm around his small body.

I heard the footsteps approaching the office and hastily sat back onto the chair that I had been on before the door opened. Ali stepped in and gave me a worried glance.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"It's perfectly fine. Geez, everyone's overreacting about this." I rolled my eyes.

"It's not perfectly fine, you got hurt."

"But it's nothing serious, I promise you."

"Pfft, you're the type who wouldn't say that they were in pain even on the verge of death," he rolled his eyes and sat beside me.

"Are you really not Al's girlfriend, Kylie? Al talks about you all the time!" Trace beamed innocently causing me to turn to Ali with a red face.

"You talk about me?" I asked in embarrassment. "What are you telling these kids, Ali?"

"Nothing embarrassing, I promise. I just use you as a role model for these little kids to aspire to."

"I'm a very lame choice, Ali. Why not choose someone more impressive? Like Rose Hathaway or something?"

"You're the only impressive person that the kids know personally. It would be a lot easier to choose someone whom they could easily relate and you were the best candidate."

"There are plenty of different examples! Like… Guardian Belikov for example! She's a much better example than I am."

"She's too old to be an effective example."

"If she catches you say that, she'll probably beat you to kingdom come."

"She probably would, but she's not here right now so I'm currently safe."

"What were you saying about me, Alistair?" an all too familiar voice commented dryly and we all turned to the door just as it opened. No doubt Aunty Jules had heard us mention her name from outside and decided to interrupt at that moment.

"Nothing, Guardian Belikov." Ali smiled innocently but from the suspicious glance that she sent him, it was obvious that she wasn't convinced at all.

"What can we do for you, Guardian Belikov?" I asked politely, putting on the act for Trace and anyone else who was around in the infirmary. Now that the door was open, I would have to be a little more cautious about what I said.

"I'm here to collect you for the ceremony. It's starting in five minutes."

"Oh yeah… the ceremony…" I trailed off.

For some reason, half an hour ago, I didn't really care that much about the ceremony. It was just a time when I would get some funky tattoos on my neck. But it meant a whole lot more than that. This would be the time when I fully embraced who I was and what I was capable of. And I would become officially known to the entire school, presuming that the majority of the school was going to watch the ceremony.

Having solid proof that I had experience in the fight against the Strigoi meant that I was going to have more responsibility. I would be expected to know what to do in almost any given situation. Especially with the amount of tattoos I would be getting, people would expect me to be flawless.

Flawless was the one key thing that I was not.

I was weak and pathetic, but not many people could see that for the simple reason that I refused to let people see it.

I gave a small sigh and set Trace down onto his feet. "Well it looks like it's time for me to go." I smiled down at him and he gave me a beaming smile.

"I'll be there! Can I be there? Please Guardian Belikov," he glanced up at Aunty Jules pleadingly.

"Of course you can be there, anyone is allowed to witness the ceremony," she told him simply and led the way.

I followed after her feeling uneasiness rise through me with each step. Ali must have sensed my growing unease because I felt him gently rest his hand on my shoulder to get my attention.

I tilted my head to glance at him and I couldn't help but feel a little more confident as he gave me a wide beaming and reassuring smile. It was a smile that said that everything was going to be okay and that even if something ridiculous did happen, he would have my back.

As much as I loved my independence in the outside world, it was certainly nice to know that there was someone who would have my back again. Yes, in terms of being a member of the soccer team, all of us had each other's backs both socially and on the field, but it was nothing like the security of knowing that someone had your back at this place. To know that someone would be there for you in case you slipped up in this Academy was far more reassuring than the gesture would ever be in any other context. Someone else having your back at this place could mean the difference between life and death.

I noticed that the grounds seemed relatively empty except for several Guardians who had been positioned at various points along the borders of the Academy to ensure that the place was as safe as it could be. Awareness rose and for a moment, my mind drifted to the idea that something was wrong and that we were under attack once more. Such an idea had my skin crawling with awareness and I couldn't shake it off.

"Why is it so quiet around here?" I blurted out eventually.

"Most likely, everyone is already seated or standing in the hall where the ceremony is to take place. We were waiting for you and I had a feeling that you might have forgotten the time of the event so I came to pick you up." Aunty Jules explained simply to me.

The relief that washed through me was mountainous and I gave a large sigh, releasing the breath that I had been holding. What would I have done if there was another attack? Would I be ready? Would I be ready to protect everyone here? And most importantly, would I be able to protect all those who were important to me?

If something like that did happen, it wouldn't be anything like the fight back at the abandoned factory at the city. Back then we had all been together in one place and it was an open space where the Guardians could see everything that was happening.

This? This was a massive set of grounds that had far too many hiding spots for comfort and not to mention, everyone was scattered all over the place. If there was an attack, no doubt there would be mass panic and people would become separated from one another. There would be no way of contact except for cell phones and even with those there wouldn't be many opportunities to use them. The Strigoi wouldn't be gracious enough to give anyone enough time to make a simple phone call.

Thinking about it all, I could only hope that I was prepared for any type of assault because I sure as hell would not be prepared to lose anyone else close to me ever again. Not ever. I had already lost two of the most important people of my lives; to lose anyone else's would probably kill me. I was much stronger now, and much more knowledgeable of how Strigoi thought and acted. I should be able to protect others a lot more efficiently now.

Right?

10


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

The loud chatter quietened as Aunty Jules led me through the crowd of people which had split down the middle like Moses and the Red Sea. People fell silent or resorted to using low whispers instead as I walked past them. Somewhere in the crowd I noticed the girls and I noticed the encouraging smiles that they were giving me. Their smiles and encouragement made me feel more confident and more reassured that this was going to be fine.

Yes, there was a large crowd, but technically, all I had to do was just lie there while the tattoo artist etched some symbols onto the base of my neck, right? That was all that I had to do, right? The more I tried to remember what the ceremony was actually like from the memory of having attended one once when I was much, much younger, the more the images of the event that day escaped me. No matter how hard I tried to remember that day, I just couldn't.

I had to guess that it was because it was incredibly boring that I couldn't actually remember much about it. If it had been anything exciting then I was fairly certain that I would have remembered most things in detail. That was how my mind functioned after all. My mind seemed to prioritise events by order of whether they had been exciting or not. I could almost remember everything else about my life here at St. Vlad's so for me to not be able to remember this ceremony at all seemed to suggest that it had been so boring that I had fallen asleep.

Frustratingly, I had been forced to sit at the front of the crowd, waiting for my turn to receive my tattoos. There were five fully-pledged Guardians who received a tattoo before me and all the while I was fidgeting with my fingers on the hem of my shirt as I waited. I had never had a tattoo before so I wasn't really sure what it was going to feel like.

Well, I had never had one except for the magical one that was etched onto my hip so long ago that I couldn't even remember when it was. It was probably when I was first born or not long after. It wasn't really a tattoo, but more of a body charm that had been created with spells.

I had absolutely no idea whether the tattoo would hurt me as much as a normal tattoo would hurt normal humans. I had heard so many horrible stories of tattoos becoming infected that it was the one thing that I had never considered doing. Piercings I could handle easily because they looked awesome, but tattoos? They were permanent body images that would never fade away. They were something that would stick with me for the rest of my life unless I decided to get laser surgery or something to remove them.

When I heard my name being called out by Aunty Jules, I stonily made my way up to the table and lay down on it on my front, facing down onto the ground. I took deep breaths as the artists brushed the hair away from my neck and tugged my top down so that he had enough space to work with.

"This might hurt just a little simply because of the amount that you will be getting in one go, Miss Valentine, so please bear with me," he told me soothingly. His soft tone was so calm and gentle that it seemed to throw me into a state of calm and I suddenly felt my unease slowly fade away. I wasn't so worried anymore and I believed in his words.

After about an hour longer, I realised that he was right. The tattoos didn't actually hurt that much in comparison to being beaten around by a Strigoi. The main reason why the ceremony hurt was due to the fact that I was beginning to get cramp from having to stay firmly in the same position for such a long time. Well, that and the fact that there was so much ink being etched onto my skin. It wasn't so much a real painful sensation but more of an irritatingly tingly and stinging sensation.

When everything was done, I vaguely managed to take in everything the artist was telling me about how to keep the tattoos clean for the next few days to prevent any future infections. He had told me that so long as I kept them clean and sanitized for the next few days then I would be in absolutely no danger whatsoever of future possibilities of getting an infection. I was thankful for that. I didn't even want to know how much hassle it would be if I were to get an infection. So long as I made sure to be careful with my next for the next couple of days then I should be alright.

Everyone seemed to crowd around me as I stepped off the slightly elevated platform where the work bed had been. One question was hurled at me after another. The main general question that seemed to circulate was about whether the tattoo had hurt or not, to which I replied: 'Not really, it just stings which is irritating rather than painful.'

I noticed Eric approaching me and I gave him a small smile in greeting. He managed to make his way to my side through the crowd and he smiled down at me. For a moment, I thought that it was a little condescending, but then I realised that it was somewhat natural considering how he was taller than me.

"Are you okay? I've heard that the ceremony could hurt," he asked me.

"I'm alright." I reassured him.

"That's good," he smiled and dipped down to give me a quick kiss on the lips.

People around us gasped since many within the hall hadn't known about me and Eric just yet. Well, now they did. The kiss was probably the most obvious sign to show that something was going on between Eric and me. I knew that the questions about what happened and how it happened would be endless so I managed to excuse myself before the interrogation took off.

I left Eric to it all since I remembered that I had an important appointment with a certain Guardian after the ceremony. It was then that I realised we hadn't actually arranged a place to meet to talk about what needed to be talked about so I simply made my way to the training salle, hoping that he would be there. I had noticed that the Guardian in question had left as soon as he was finished receiving the tattoo so I knew that he was no longer in the ceremony hall.

When I got there, I found Crispin relaxing in the middle of the room on a large pile of mats. It looked so comfortable that I couldn't help but want to join him. But I knew that I couldn't. If I did then I wouldn't be able to have the serious conversation that the pair of us undoubtedly needed to have.

"Ah, Valentine, good timing. Finally done with the tattoos?" he asked conversationally as he heard me approach. He jumped off of the mats and landed just in front of me and he dusted himself off, straightening his trousers slightly.

"Yeah, it took a while though."

"I can imagine, considering how many kills you made, it was bound to take a while," he told me. "So you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind. Could we possibly head to Guardian Belikov's office instead? I think I would feel better if we were to talk there."

"Anywhere is fine with me so long as Guardian Belikov doesn't mind us intruding in her space."

"I don't think she would mind too much if we ask her nicely." I smiled wryly at him.

To be honest, considering the conversation that I was about to have with Crispin, I was sure that Aunty Jules wouldn't mind us borrowing the space of her office for just an hour or so or however long it took for our conversation to end.

"Do you remember where that is?" he asked me curiously.

"Yeah, I went there this morning as well."

"Ah yes, the incident with O'Connor. He really dug himself a great hole there, messing with people he knows perfectly well that he shouldn't mess with if he had any sense."

"Problem is, he doesn't. Not at the moment anyway." I scoffed. "I'm pretty sure that that stupid idiot is capable of being sensible, but I guess that at the moment, his mind is so overruled by the desire to be popular that he just doesn't think straight enough."

"That is certainly one way of looking at it." Crispin commented with an amused smile. "I was under the impression that you didn't like him, so why the nice talk about him?"

"I may not like him, but that doesn't mean that I have to badmouth him without a reason to." I commented bluntly like it was the most obvious thing in the word.

From the surprised expression that Crispin was giving me, I had to guess that perhaps my response hadn't been as obvious as I had thought. Did I really come across as someone who held too serious of a grudge to strangers? I hoped not, I did try to be nice most of the time.

"Wow, that is some serious kindness going on there."

"It's not called kindness, it's just… normal?"

"With the way that he's been behaving lately, especially concerning you, I wouldn't call your rationality towards him, normal."

"Hm… I guess you do have a point there." I grinned.

When we reached Aunty Jules' main office in the heart of the campus, I knocked gently on her door, hoping that she was already there. She gave a loud holler, allowing us to enter and I opened the door slightly before poking my head through.

"I hope you don't mind, but I was hoping to borrow your office space for a little while." I smiled politely.

"How serious is the conversation going to be?" she asked sternly with narrowed eyes.

"Quite serious and important and it would be best if no one else heard the contents of the conversation." I told her vaguely.

She stared at me for several moments longer before giving a curt nod. I took that as my cue to enter the office and Crispin followed behind me. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise at who I brought with me before realisation seemed to dawn in her eyes.

"Please go through the door on the left, there is a spare room in there where you two can talk." Aunty Jules informed me and I smiled appreciatively at her.

"Thank you very much, Guardian Belikov." I beamed.

The room next door was small, but not cramped and there was a table and two sofas on either sides of the small coffee table. I settled into one sofa while Crispin settled into another. He had closed the door behind him and for several moments, neither of us said a word. We were silent and it took a while for me to decide on what to ask him. In the end, I decided on a question that I had been meaning to ask since yesterday during our fight with the Strigoi.

"Why did you help me? Why didn't you react the same way that Guardian Castile had and forced me to join the little protected group? Why did you hand me the stake? I found your reaction a little surprising considering how much you freaked out on me that time when we went shopping and I ditched you with those girls."

"You sure do know how to ask a whole collection of questions all in one go, don't you?" he smiled wolfishly at me and I smiled sheepishly in response. Okay, so I hadn't just asked one question. I asked several, but the general theme of them was the same. I wanted to know why his reaction was so drastically different to the one back at the shopping mall.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he told me with a dismissive wave. "As for your questions, what do you remember of my strict reaction to your actions back at the mall?"

"I remember you freaking out, me getting angry, me kicking your ass, then before you could plunge into another lecture, Guardian Maxwell stepped in and stopped a full-on fight from breaking out?"

"I'm glad that he did step in. I would not have liked to have been thrashed by a minor and an undergraduate outside of Academy grounds. Now that would be both painful and highly humiliating considering there were three others with us." Crispin scoffed. "As for Maxwell, he told me to back off and that you really did have things under control. At that moment, I didn't understand why he was taking your side, but later when we got back here to the Academy, he explained a few things to me."

"What did he tell you, exactly?" I narrowed my eyes cautiously at him.

Although I trusted Joe enough to know that he wouldn't have exposed my secret to just anyone, I knew that he would also not hesitate to tell someone as skilled as Crispin anything he needed to know in order to protect me properly.

"Well, for one thing, he told me about how exactly it was that the Guardians actually discovered you. Up until today, not many people actually knew about the fact that you had taken down Strigoi last week. No other Guardian had actually seen it and only Zeklos, Dragomir and Parker actually saw your kills. And actually, I reckon that Zeklos didn't actually see anything, and Parker was probably too terrified at the prospect of having a Strigoi nearly kill her to have taken notice of who actually saved her. So all in all, only Maxwell was certain of your kill."

"Okay… but that still didn't explain why you didn't hold me back like you had done that first time. Even if I was experienced, I was still a minor and an undergraduate, I would have thought that you would react differently than the way you did yesterday."

"At first, I was planning on reacting the same way that Castile did, but then I actually took notice of the situation and realised that in that situation, we were going to need all the help we could get considering how many royals we had gathered in one place. Yes you were a minor and yes you were an undergraduate, but you were also an undergraduate who had made more kills that you could even count, apparently."

"Ah… so Guardian Maxwell told you about that as well." I stared blankly at him.

"Yes, Maxwell told me that when you were first brought to the Academy, they took you straight to Headmaster Hunt and they had interrogated you a little bit to find out your background and why you had been able to take down the Strigoi that the Guardians had been too preoccupied to handle."

"Well what can I say? I've had outside help and vague knowledge about the vampire community with the occasional teachings from the lovely Alchemists and some ex-Guardians who had been kind enough to teach me a few tricks." I smiled.

"But that's not all, is it?" he stared expectantly at me and I merely stared blankly back at him.

"What do you mean?"

"There is something else."

"Did Guardian Maxwell tell you this or just your instincts?"

"My instincts. I don't believe for one second that what I know about you so far is anything near the full story. I have a vague suspicion that there is something vital that I haven't been told and somehow, Maxwell is in on the secret while I'm kept in the dark."

"You seem to have very accurate instincts, Guardian Jenson."

"I have been told that it is one of my valuable assets."

"And without a doubt, you have many. Your combat skills and ability to think rationally during a difficult situation are certainly evidence of your expertise. I think that that is something which Guardian Castile could probably work on."

"Castile has a record of losing his cool at certain times. I was surprised by the intimacy between you two though. It's almost as though you two had already known each other. I've heard the kids from the Elementary school calling you his girlfriend."

"I'm not his girlfriend." I protested.

"Yes, I know, apparently, you are Eric Cooper's girlfriend. Maxwell just texted me about the news having seen your little display of affection after your tattoos were finished."

"It seems so."

"You don't seem very happy about it. Most girls would kill for a chance to be his girlfriend. But then again, you aren't like most other girls, are you, Valentine?"

"I think you've worked that out pretty well by yourself already, Guardian Jenson." I grinned cheekily.

"Yes, I think I have too," he laughed. "I know that I have no authority or any right to be giving you advice on these sorts of matters, but I strongly suggest that you be careful around boys like Cooper. They are not to be messed with."

"Oh? I thought that he was a model student of some kind." I frowned.

"It is the model students who are also popular that you really have to watch out for."

"I'll take your words into account, Guardian Jenson." I smiled. "Any advice would be taken into consideration."

"It's not that Cooper has done anything wrong before. It's just that he is a Moroi and you are a Dhampir. I know that you are a girl with a lot of common sense, but things happen in the vampire community and even the most rational of us end up making some kind of a slip up when it comes to interaction with the Moroi."

I blinked in surprise at his words and for several moments I tried to work out what he was trying to say. I mulled over his words over and over and still managed to come up with nothing so I settled for asking him instead.

"Could you give me a more detailed explanation? I have to say that I don't really understand what you're trying to say."

"I'm trying to say that, for centuries, it has always been seen as a privilege and an honour for a dhampir to be sought after by a Moroi, especially the popular ones. More often than not, it would be a relationship between a male Moroi and a female dhampir and more often than not, that Moroi would get the dhampir pregnant and leave her behind."

"Ah, you're trying to say that I should be careful and make sure that I don't get too carried away and accidentally get pregnant."

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't want you to have to make a choice of having to choose between your child and a bright future as a Guardian, Valentine. You seem like the type who would choose the child no matter what."

"I am." I told him bluntly. "And you wouldn't happen to be referring to something like what happened with the legendary Janine Hathaway, would you?"

"You caught me."

"I would never abandon my child."

"Janine Hathaway didn't abandon her child, she left Rose in perfectly capable and safe hands."

"But she made the choice to leave her child behind nonetheless. It doesn't matter how much you try to sugar coat it, Guardian Jenson. The bottom line is, Janine Hathaway left Rose behind to fend for herself through her childhood. Nothing anyone says can change that fact. It wasn't an opinion, it was a harsh fact."

"Rose Hathaway grew up pretty well though."

"She didn't just do 'pretty well'. From what I've read so far, Rose Hathaway is an absolute legend. She did almost everything that was thought to be impossible. She made the impossible, possible and there has yet to be someone who can rival her reputation."

"You seem to know about her in quite a lot of detail for such a newbie." Crispin glanced up through his long lashes at me and I stared innocently back at him. If the glimmer of suspicion that gleamed in his eyes was anything to go by, I was pretty sure that he wasn't at all convinced by my act of innocence.

"Well what can I say? I liked her character and read up a little about her. She definitely seemed a lot more fascinating than Queen Tatiana."

"Queen Tatiana did what she could to ensure the best for her people. Most might not have agreed with her actions, but she did what she could. Even a monarch has their limitations."

"Oh I know." I grinned. "I have studied general world history, you know?"

"You have?"

"Yes, I have actually and I quite like it."

"I have to agree on that. I was never much of a science lover. I had always and still do prefer history and politics over all things science." Crispin grinned wolfishly.

"My favourite has to be drama and sport above all else."

"I had guessed that from your grand escape."

"It wasn't that dramatic. It could have been a whole lot worse. I had been planning things like gas leaks and the like in order to cause the distraction."

"Gas leaks? Were you planning on blowing up half the school or something?" he arched his brows in amusement.

"Of course not! That would weaken the wards and by default put everyone in the Academy in serious danger of being attacked!" I gasped in genuine horror. "I may have been prepared to do almost anything to break out of the school to get back to my team, but I never would have put the others at such a huge risk. Breaking out of one gate by drugging the Guardians was one thing, to truly damage the wards and weakening them is a different story altogether."

"So the safety of the school was in your mind?"

"Well of course, why wouldn't it be?" I frowned in confusion, not understanding why it was a surprise to him that I cared about the safety of the people at this Academy.

Crispin looked like he was about to say something, but before he could get his words out, there was a loud slam of the door and without having to see, I knew that the main door of Aunty Jules' office had just been violently opened. I was somewhat surprised and wondered who it could have been to have just so rudely barrelled into the Head Guardian's office like that. Crispin must have been intrigued too since he shut his mouth and listened.

The next words that filled the silence made the colour drain entirely from my face.

"Why did you not tell me that Skylar was back?" an all too familiar voice that was usually gentle and soothing demanded furiously.


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

I flinched at the fury that was in Maria's voice. The woman was usually very calm and very rarely raised her voice but she sure was terrifying when she was genuinely angry about something. This occasion was certainly one of them and I knew exactly why she was so angry. Someone had spilled the beans and told her the truth.

'Skylar' had been a very secretive name that only Maria had ever used. Kalani meant 'sky' and I wasn't entirely sure how it had happened but instead of calling me 'Kalani', 'Little Sky' or 'Kai', Maria had become adapted in calling me 'Skylar'. It was a very individual name between Maria and I so I wasn't all that concerned about anyone else being able to work out who she was talking about from that shout. What I was concerned about was getting out of this room alive if Maria found out that I was in here.

I could hear Aunty Jules bolting out of her chair and warned Maria to keep her voice down. The main door shut firmly and I could hear shuffling in the other room so I presumed that Maria and Aunty Jules were getting comfortable for the complicated conversation that they were about to have. No doubt, Aunty Jules was probably debating in her mind of whether to let Maria know that I was in here or not. There was a high chance that Maria would do what she could to inflict some kind of harm on me if she found me now in her state of rage.

"Maria, start from the beginning and please remember to keep your voice down." Aunty Jules cautioned the other woman.

"Joseph has just told me that she is back, Juliet. Now I want to know why I am only finding out about this now. Where is she? How long has she been here? How has she managed to hide for so long since arriving at the Academy? Who found her? Is she -"

"Maria!" Aunty Jules cut in with an exasperated voice.

"Sorry…"

"Kai is fine."

"Is she? Is she really?"

"Yes, she is perfectly fine and she is safe."

"So where is she?"

"In capable hands."

"Who found her?"

"Martin and Joseph."

"How long has she been here?"

"Give or take about a week."

There was silence for several moments and with each answer I could see the realisation and shock setting in Crispin's eyes as he stared at me in disbelief. I could only rub the back of my neck sheepishly since I definitely did not want to walk out there to face Maria and I gave him a guilty smile.

"No way…" he whispered. "Kai… and… Kai. They sound exactly the same… but how was it spelt? How do you spell your nickname, Valentine?" he asked me with a hushed tone.

"Um… are you sure you want the answer to that?" I whispered.

"Just tell me."

"K. A. I." I told him honestly. He had already worked everything out so there was absolutely no point in trying to lie anymore. I had thought that I might be able to get away with such a lie for a while longer with Crispin, but apparently my game was up.

I had deliberately never told anyone how I spelled my name in its shortened form because if it was simply said verbally, it could be spelt in a number of different ways and it wasn't a wholly uncommon name either so I could get away with such a name. Not to mention, since it was such an obvious and logical shortened version of the name 'Kylie', I didn't think that anyone would suspect. And I was clearly right about that since I had managed to keep it a secret from so many people for a week without anyone suspecting anything at all. But with the name spelt out, I knew that the cat was out of the bag for Crispin.

"I don't believe it…" he gasped. "You're THE runaway kid from six years ago!" he shouted, jumping up and pointing at me. "Now everything makes much more sense, especially with how close you seem to be with Maxwell."

At that precise moment, the door leading to the main room slammed open and I turned my head to face an incredibly unamused and fuming Guardian.

"Um… busted?" I laughed nervously and squealed as I dove out of the way from Maria's attack.

"You wretched little child!" she screamed and lunged for me again which I dodged, again.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but don't you think you should calm down a little?"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Skylar! You are in serious trouble! You hear me? Serious trouble!"

"I know, I know, but seriously, this is a really cramped room so this isn't a good idea. Guardian Jenson might get hurt."

"Guardian Jenson will be just fine," she told me curtly as she casually dove past him towards me.

I jumped out of the smaller room into Aunty Jules' office and held my hands out in defence. "Stunned looking Guardian over there that needs a lot of explanations! I think he needs more attention than me!" I tried to reason in my feeble attempt to direct her attention from me.

Eventually, she managed to get a hit in, mainly because I knew that if I didn't let her hit me just once; this vicious cycle of her lunging and me dodging would never ever end. I winced as her fist came in contact with the back of my head and the force of her blow was so strong that my head snapped forwards slightly from the strength of it. I had forgotten just how strong Maria could be when she wanted to be.

As soon as she got that one hit, I was suddenly crushed against her chest by her arms as she caught me in a tight embrace. "You foolish, foolish child!"

"Yes, I've been told that quite a few times in the past week or so."

"Why am I the last to find out?" she demanded.

"Because it went in the order of slip-ups?" I smiled nervously.

"Slip-ups?"

"Well, Joey found out because of his gut instinct and from rummaging through my bag and finding Mum's stake there, then he told Martin and it was quiet for a couple of days but then Ali found out and then there was Aunty Jules who saw me at the Elementary Division. Then as a punishment for breaking out of the school, Martin told Rosette who confronted me this morning and now you know."

"Oh Skylar, you have changed so much and yet you are still so familiar…" she trailed off and held me at arm's length to inspect me better. "I cannot believe that even after a full week of teaching you, I still didn't notice who you really were. I'm really sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, Maria." I smiled at her then hastily corrected myself. "I mean, Guardian Valiere."

"Just go back to calling me Maria when we are in suitable company," she smiled fondly down at me. "I really should have noticed. I thought I saw the Skylar that I knew back at the chapel on that first day, but when you spoke and from the way that you behaved… it was all just so different that I had blamed my gut feeling on wishful thinking and that you weren't actually back, that I was simply wishing it so much that I was desperate to find resemblances in people."

"Well, I can be pleased to say that I am the same person." I beamed childishly up at her and she cupped my face with her hands.

"You have grown so well out there… I wish I could have seen it happen."

"So do we all, Maria. Her growth has been kept a secret from us all." Aunty Jules scoffed.

"But you will see new growth from me." I argued. "I haven't stopped growing yet. No one ever stops growing."

"Quite a profound statement there, Skylar."

"Maria, I'm sorry to say this but you are going to have to remember to call me by my false name when we are in public."

"I know, Skylar. But for now, just for now while we are here in Juliet's office, let me call you Skylar. It has been such a long time."

"Yes, do you hear that, Kai?" Aunty Jules glared at me and I knew that she still hadn't forgiven me for running away all those years ago. "Six years, it's been. Six long anxious years."

"Yes, yes I get it! I'm feeling guilty enough as it is!" I complained. "But seriously, we need to save this reunion feeling for a later time because Guardian Jenson is still looking somewhat shell-shocked."

"Guardian – Ah yes, I apologise for my behaviour just now Guardian Jenson, but this girl has a tendency of making me behave my worst." Maria smiled charmingly at him.

Crispin still seemed somewhat shocked for a several moments before he seemed to finally shake it off and he stared at me. "Now everything makes sense."

"It does, doesn't it?" I smiled sheepishly. "Perhaps we should go pay a visit to Martin if he's not too busy."

"You mean Guardian Hunt." Crispin stared at me.

"No, I meant Martin." I grinned.

"If it isn't too much to ask, I want a full explanation from you, Valentine. Or should I say, Princess Ivashkov."

"And I warn you now, if you even think about calling me that one more time, I will beat you till you can't get up."

"You've already done that once."

"I know, and I won't hesitate to do it again if you call me that."

"But it's the right title."

"No, it's not. That girl died and she will remain that way."

"You're right in front of me." Crispin blinked in confusion.

I simply smiled grimly at him and left the office without another word knowing that the Guardians would follow me. They all knew where I was headed anyway and it probably would be best for Martin to know that someone outside of the old group knew about my secret. As I walked ahead of them, I could feel Crispin staring at me back the whole time. He was probably trying to work out what I had meant about the death of the Ivashkov heir when I was still kicking and screaming. I didn't blame him for being confused, if I had been him, I would be too.

But it was the honest truth. I didn't feel alive. At least, not as the Ivashkov heir anyway. The way that I was living now was as 'Kylie Valentine' was not the way that I would have had to live as 'Kalani Ivashkov'. I was essentially two different people at the moment and I had absolutely no intention of reviving the Ivashkov princess anytime soon, if ever. I really didn't want to face a situation where I will need to expose the truth, I really didn't.

The chaos that would undoubtedly ensue would probably be too much for most people to handle, especially the students of the school. How were my newfound friends going to react if they ever found out? Would they hate me for hiding such a truth from them? Would it be wishful thinking for me to hope that they would treat me the same way they do now if they found out the truth?

I didn't want to consider the idea of them treating me differently just because of my title. Even if I was from a royal family, I was still the same person inside. My title didn't define who I was, I wasn't going to let it. I'd already managed to come this far without being confined by what it meant to be a royal, I really didn't want to have to return to the way of life from six years ago. I didn't want to have to face people with false expressions and false kindness. And most of all, I didn't want to have to face the dull obligations of having to attend parties just because I was a royal.

I could still remember the way other royal families used to look at me. The way they stared at me with such disgust as though I was some sort of a monster was something that I was in no haste to have to face again. I could understand their distaste of me though. I was a dhampir who had abilities that were strictly restricted to the capabilities of Moroi and Moroi only. No dhampir in the whole of vampire history had ever had elemental abilities before. There should be absolutely no exception, and yet by some freak chance, I was.

I was an existence that should have been impossible.

"Ah!" I heard a familiar voice call out and looking up ahead I saw Joe running up to us with a frantic expression on his face. "Sorry, I see that Maria managed to find you before I did."

"Yeah… I was in Aunty Jules' office at the time." I smiled grimly. "I am definitely going to kick your ass later for this."

"I'm sorry, but it was a mistake, she caught something in my voice and words and worked everything out herself and then pretty much threatened to expose every secret I had unless I told her the truth."

"Well, the truth might as well have come out now. Better late than never, if it had been any later I might really have killed her." Maria glanced at me with a glare.

"Hey, I like who I am right now so I'm not sorry about the secret." I protested.

I ducked at the last moment before Maria managed to get another hit in and I glared up at her.

"Maria, stop that." Aunty Jules reprimanded her with a stern stare. "Remember who you are, she might be back but that doesn't change anything."

"This changes everything, Juliet."

"No, Maria, this doesn't change anything." Aunty Jules stared levelly at her and I watched as the pair of them had a long stare down with each other.

"Uh… you two are attracting a crowd so how about you two talk it out or something while I wait for you in the office?" I laughed nervously and left that situation as quickly as I could.

I could still remember the types of stare downs and conversations that Maria and Aunty Jules could get into and I knew that things could get out of hand really easily. It probably had something to do with the fact that the pair of them were so similar that they just got on each other's nerves too easily. The best thing to do whenever they got into that situation was just to leave them to it, not even my parents would try and get between them when they looked like they were about to get into a fight.

I hastily made my way to Martin's office with Joe walking beside me and Crispin lingering ever so slightly behind. I tapped politely on the headmaster's door and heard the same holler as always coming from the other side of the door to grant our entrance into his office. I opened the door and I could tell that he was surprised to see me there and the surprise merely increased when he saw who else was with me.

"Valentine, what can I do for you?" he asked curiously as he rested his chin on the bridge formed by his hands. He had instantly discarded whatever document he had been reading and I had to smile slightly at that. Pride kicked in when I saw that he prioritised me over the documents.

I waited for a few seconds for the door to shut properly before I whirled on Joe and without any warning I smacked the back of his head. "That's for letting Maria know!" I glared up at him as he clutched his head with a sheepish expression.

"I told you, it wasn't my fault!" he protested indignantly.

"The hell it's not! What the heck did you say that made her catch on? I nearly got slaughtered in that cramped office! I honestly thought that I was going to die."

"We were just talking…"

"About what?"

"About how you were probably the youngest undergraduate to receive the _molnija_ marks."

"And?"

"And I might have accidentally called you 'Kai' instead of 'Valentine'."

"And of course that would have made her suspicious because all teachers at this school address the students here by their surnames or by their titles if they are royals. You idiot!"

"I said I was sorry! Maria already hit me twice for having kept quiet about your return for so long. She was not impressed that I didn't tell her straight away."

"So the cat is now out of the bag for everyone of importance?" Martin smiled in amusement as he watched the interaction between Joe and me. Crispin, I noticed, looked a little surprised at how informal I was behaving but he didn't say anything because he now knew the reason behind it. Because he hadn't been here since the beginning of my life here, he had no idea how close I was with certain teachers here so he probably felt that it wasn't in his place to interrupt.

"Yes, the cat is now out of the bag for the old family and now Guardian Jenson."

"Yes, I can see that." Martin shifted his gaze to stare at Crispin levelly. "So how did you find out? I highly doubt that Kai would have been the one to have made the slip up and there is no way that you could have recognised her having never met her before. Was it the mark?"

"Mark?" Crispin frowned in surprise and I was impressed that he seemed completely unfazed by Martin's interrogation.

"No, he hasn't seen it. No one has since I keep it under wraps, quite literally." I replied for Crispin. "And he meant the mark that I got as a baby to show who and what I was as the last heir to the Ivashkov bloodline."

"Ah, that makes more sense." Crispin nodded slowly.

"So if it wasn't the mark then how did you find out?" Martin narrowed his eyes at the Guardian and before Crispin could answer, the door swung open and Maria and Aunty Jules walked in casually without a care in the world. They made sure to close the door behind them and they both simply took a seat on the sofas.

"How come there is an uncomfortable silence in here?" Maria asked innocently.

"I was just trying to find out how Guardian Jenson knows of Kai's secret." Martin explained simply to her.

"Ah, I can answer that. It was probably my fault. I charged into Juliet's office, not realising that there were people already there in the next room, and started asking her all about who and when Skylar had returned." Maria waved dismissively.

"And because the wall was so thin between the small office and the main one, Guardian Jenson and I heard every word and as a result, he managed to piece everything together." I finished off.

"Well this is certainly interesting. It has taken just over a week for the family to get back together and know of your return. Nicely done, Kai. I would have thought that everyone would have blundered sooner but it seems that Joe has held out for longer than I had expected." Martin smirked at Joe.

"Hey! I can keep my mouth shut for matters that really count," he protested indignantly.

"Yes, Joey, we know." I laughed and patted his back sympathetically.

We all knew that Joe had an incapability to lie well which was both a good and a bad thing. It just meant that he always had to be careful and make sure that he never got into a situation where he might need to lie.

"Rosette is on her way with Alistair. I thought that it would be best if we had everyone here considering the situation." Aunty Jules stated bluntly.

"Well, if Rosette is on her way then perhaps we should wait a little before we move on with the discussion." Martin sighed and leaned back into his chair.

"Sorry about causing trouble yet again, Martin. I honestly thought that I would be able to give you at least a little breathing space before I caused mayhem again." I smiled sheepishly at him and rubbed the back of my neck.

"That's alright, Kai. I knew that this day would occur eventually. It was only a matter of time. I do have to say that I didn't expect for a stranger to have found out so soon."

"Neither did I. I'm damn glad that it's Guardian Jenson who found out though." I scoffed.

"Oh?"

"He seems reliable and good friends with Joey. Not to mention, I already know that I can kick his ass to kingdom come if he ever thinks about exposing the secret." I smiled innocently at Crispin despite the slight threat that I just made.

"I don't plan on telling anyone about what I found out today, but if it's not too much to ask, I would like to have some explanations." Crispin asked politely and I did a double take.

And then I knew.

Crispin was speaking formally now because he was mindful of my status…

I knew that this would happen, I just knew it, and the more that I thought about it, the angrier I got and before I even realised it, I had lashed out at him.


	33. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

He barely managed to block my punch and surprise flashed through his eyes as he stumbled sideways a few paces from the impact of my next attack which was a roundhouse kick. I stared at him for few moments in fury when I realised that he wasn't going to defend himself anymore from my attacks and somehow that just made me even angrier.

The next attack sent him flying out of the door just as Rosette and Ali walked in and Ali barely had enough time to tug Rosette out of harm's way. Crispin crumbled against the wall and he slowly picked himself back up. There was a gaze in his eyes. A gaze that I couldn't stand to see.

It was a gleam that spoke of volumes of duty. The duty of letting me do what I wanted because of who I was, because I was the Ivashkov Princess. In terms of titles, Crispin was nothing but a mere guard and it seemed that in his eyes, I could beat him to a complete pulp and he wouldn't even contemplate on defending himself because I was of higher status than he was.

"This! This is why I should never have -" I screamed and I could feel the air pressure building in the room. Before I finished my sentence I was being tugged against Rosette's chest and she stroked the back of my head soothingly.

"Shh," she murmured against my hair. "Calm down, Kalani. It's alright. Everything will be alright."

Slowly, the pressure returned to normal and I could do nothing but cling onto Rosette. I didn't want this. I really hadn't wanted this. I was prepared for the truth to be exposed eventually, but I had thought that I had more preparation time; preparation time to make myself ready for the glances that I knew I would inevitably get.

I had really liked Crispin. We were starting to get along so well and I was hoping that he wouldn't be just like any uptight Guardian. I was really hoping that things would still be the same, that I would just be another ordinary student who had more skill than most others.

"What the hell happened?" Ali demanded as he tugged Crispin up and shoved him into the office before shutting the door once more.

I peered over Rosette's shoulder to see Crispin standing passively with a closed off expression. He must've seen someone in my eyes because I saw the realisation and understanding dawn in his eyes. His expression became apologetic and he stepped towards me. I flinched and stared suspiciously at him as he stopped in front of me.

"So what do I owe you for having helped me out with that lesson, Valentine?" he asked casually.

I stared at him in doubt, wondering if that was just an act that he was putting on to put me more at ease. There didn't seem to be a hint of deceit in his eyes and so for the moment, I decided to trust him. I wanted to trust in Crispin. I wanted to try trusting someone who wasn't family, someone who hadn't been connected to me in some way.

"Well, since you're asking, you owe me a week's worth of ice-cream." I told him bluntly.

"A week? Isn't that a bit much?"

"Hey, you should've thought about the consequences when you decided to rope me into helping your teaching duty." I scoffed.

And just like that, I knew that we could get through this. He would do his best to disregard my title because he seemed to genuinely understand. He was going to respect me by remaining ignorant and not dragging this topic on too far. He was willing to drop it because it seemed as though he could see the reasons why and for a moment, I thought that he not only realised but also understood why this was such a secret.

"Would someone please explain to me what is going on?" Ali complained as he glanced between Crispin and me.

"Jenson knows." Joe told him bluntly.

"Jenson knows what?" Ali frowned in confusion.

"I know that Valentine is the runaway princess but at the moment that doesn't really matter because she has the right to live the way she wants to and I think that the choice she's made so far is a damn good one." Crispin grinned at me and I smiled appreciatively at him for understanding.

"Hey, hey, Jenson, you haven't fallen in love with our little princess or something, have you?" Joe glared menacingly at him and tugged me out of Rosette's arms so that he could hug me protectively.

Crispin shot him a startled and indignant glance. "Really now? Is this how immature you get when she's involved?"

"I'm not being immature." Joe protested.

"Um… sorry, Joey, but I'm going to have to side with Guardian Jenson with this." I smiled apologetically up at him. I tugged his hands away and slapped his cheeks. "I thought you were meant to be more mature than Ali at the least."

"Sorry, little sky but I wasn't expecting someone else to have found out so soon. This kind of hurts my pride for some reason for him to just accept everything so easily. It's almost like there's some kind of a bond between you two and you've only known each other for a week." Joe pouted and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, Joey. You don't have to worry, nothing could ever replace my family unit." I smiled warmly up at him and tugged his head down so that I could kiss his forehead.

"Seriously, Maxwell, you don't have to worry. I wouldn't dream of taking her away from you. You'll kill me in my sleep if I even contemplated anything like that." Crispin scoffed.

"Actually, you made a mistake in what you just said, Guardian Jenson." Martin commented.

"Oh?"

"We'll all torture you one at a time before we finally end your life." Aunty Jules explained for Martin and I noticed the glance that she and Martin shared. I could see the mischief but also sense the threat in their words. Although they would never break any rules, they would certainly not hesitate to serious harm someone who harmed me.

Crispin must have noticed the real threat there too because he sent me a glance that showed that he clearly understood what they were trying to tell him. "You really are loved by these people, aren't you? Not just because of your name."

"What can I say? They were my parents' friends and have been with me since I was born." I shrugged. "So are you up for this challenge, Guardian Jenson? Because this won't be easy, especially when the truth is exposed."

"I don't really know what would really happen when the truth gets out but I do know that there will be chaos, but even then, I will do my best to help you and make sure you don't get killed in the process from being bombarded by royals," he grinned at me.

"You know, Guardian Jenson, you are incredible, you know that?" I smiled.

"I may have been told that a few times."

"I see that there's a bit of an ego."

"Every guy has an ego, Valentine."

"Oh I know, I have been in a soccer team with a bunch of boys for a few years after all."

"Hang on a minute!" Ali cut in and suddenly jumped in between Crispin and me so that we couldn't see each other without having to peer around Ali. "Let me get this straight, your secret has been exposed to Jenson?" he stared at me in shock.

"That is what I just said…" I nodded slowly.

"Then why is he not being deported or being sworn to secrecy or something?"

I stared at Ali and I could see the suspicion and distrust rising like the tide within him. I gave a heavy sigh and tugged his head down forcefully so that we were at eye level. "Because we've decided to trust that he will keep my secret, Ali. Guardian Jenson is safe."

"How can you know that?"

"I don't. None of us can know for certain, but that's a risk that I am willing to take."

"Why? Why him?" he whispered and he stared at me with surprisingly pained eyes.

I blinked in surprise at the gleam in his eyes and for a moment, I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to think. I had no idea why there was such a sudden change of attitude from Ali and I was confused as hell about the whole thing. I was still trying to come to grips myself that I had decided to take the risk and trust in Crispin. Even now I didn't really know why I was taking such a risk.

The stakes were really against me because I didn't know Crispin all that well. But over the past week, I could see that Crispin was a noble type of person. A somewhat mysterious one perhaps with eyes that had clearly witnessed too much and he still somehow managed to retain a slight immaturity in his behaviour and attitude.

I was curious about the Guardian, not in a romantic sense in any way, but curious nonetheless and I knew without a doubt that Crispin felt the same. He had a vague understanding about me and personality but he didn't _know_ me, just as I didn't know him. Somehow, I had a feeling that we would become great friends, but first, we were going to have to talk about everything that happened today.

Back to the situation at hand, I was incredibly confused by how Ali was reacting to the situation. It was somewhat unexpected since I had thought that he would react in the same way as everyone else. So why didn't he? I had expected him to be surprise by the turn of events, but I certainly didn't expect him to seem almost horrified or be in such denial.

"Alistair, I think you should go back to your room for some rest for now." Martin warned him with a serious tone and Ali glanced over my head to stare at him. I don't know what expression Martin was using but I knew that it made Ali obey without protest and I found that incredibly odd. Normally, from what I could remember, even if someone older or of a superior experience or status gave Ali a stern look he would still argue back for a little bit before complying to what he was being told. The fact that Ali obeyed without any sort of defiance spoke volumes of just how much he had grown and matured in the six years that I was gone.

I couldn't help but feel a pang of pain in my chest when I noticed the forlorn look Ali sent me before leaving the office. For the first time in my life, I couldn't comprehend the situation at all, and that scared me. I had no idea where this situation was going and I didn't like the fact that I was so clueless about it.

"I think that he was just feeling a little surprised that you decided to trust so easily, Kai." Joe tried to explain to me.

"I think that he's feeling a little lost too. I don't think that he's really acknowledged just how much you have changed, Kalani." Rosette smiled at me. I didn't know when she moved, but she was currently sitting beside Aunty Jules on the sofa and Maria was perched on the armrest beside her.

Crispin was looking somewhat confused but seemed to decide against asking what was going on for which I was glad because to be perfectly honest, I didn't really know either.

"I haven't changed all that much, have I? I've just become a little more confident, that's all." I insisted.

"No." Maria stared at me with a deep, soulful glance. "No, Skylar, you have changed more than any of us could have ever expected, probably more than Raymond and Amelie could have ever anticipated. But then again, they never would've expected for you to actually break out of the school and survive out there all on your own either. None of us did. Yes, we had hoped you would have survived, but we also knew how unrealistic that hope was. I am glad that you have proved us wrong, Skylar."

"Have I really changed that much?" I glanced at them all in dismay. "I mean, I thought that it was just the confidence that's changed…"

"Yes, it is your confidence that has changed." Maria nodded and stepped towards me. "But because of that, that has also changed who you are now. You have always had a high sense of justice but because of your confidence, you are now no longer afraid to show it. Your confidence has finally given you the courage needed to say what's on your mind and to act according to what you believe is right. Six years ago, you never would have done a thing. Six years ago, if anything like what happened today occurred, you would most likely run as fast as you could away from the situation and would refuse to confront it."

I thought about it for a moment and realised that she was completely right. Had I been the same as I was six years ago, I definitely would not have had the courage to take the risk that I had done today in choosing to trust Crispin. Perhaps that's what Ali had meant when he asked me 'Why him?' Maybe he wanted to know why I had decided to trust so seemingly easily. Most likely, Ali wasn't aware of the time that I had spent with Crispin around in the past week due to him being my teacher in combat and therefore Ali wouldn't have had any idea that I had been able to observe what type of person Crispin was. I had a feeling that it would be much better for me to have the long needed talk with Ali sooner rather than later.

"But I'm still the same person…" I reassured myself.

"Yes, Skylar, you are. To those who don't know you the way we do, they wouldn't see any similarities, nor would they even attempt to make the link because they never saw the real you six years ago. But for us? We all know that you that stand before us now are the girl from six years ago, just a little louder and more outspoken." Maria confirmed.

"For people who didn't know you back then, meeting the you now is like meeting a completely new person for them because they never knew what you were really like considering how you pretty much ignored people you didn't feel like getting on with." Joe added.

"Alright Joey, no need to point out my faults so much." I pouted childishly and smacked his shoulder. "I should probably go and find Ali to try and talk things out with him."

"Yes, I think he deserves the talk more than any of us, Kalani." Rosette nodded sternly.

"So um… where is his room?" I asked sheepishly.

"I'll take you there." Crispin offered.

"Thanks." I smiled appreciatively as I followed him out of Martin's office.

For a few moments neither of us said anything, and I guessed that Crispin needed those few quiet moments to sort out his thoughts. Having had such an important secret dumped on him just like that can't have been easy. If it had been me, I would probably be running my hands through my hair constantly in confusion. I was quite surprised with how well Crispin was taking this.

"We're going to need another chat, aren't we?" I smiled sheepishly up at him as we walked towards where most Guardians lived.

"I have to say, I was expecting that something was different about you, but I never would've thought that it was that…"

"Crazy?"

"Well, yes. But I think that our chat can wait. Talking to Castile is probably your priority right now."

"You're probably right about that." I sighed. "I really don't know what's wrong with him though and that kind of scares me."

"Remember that feeling, because I think that that confusion and fear is probably what he is feeling right now. I don't know how close you are with everyone, but I do know that you are important to them."

"Thanks, Guardian Jenson." I smiled sweetly at him, in appreciation for his understanding.

Before long, we reached the Guardians' quarters, and since it was during school hours still, there were no Guardians around at all which I was thankful for. I didn't even want to think about the types of excuses that I would have to make to explain why I was there and entering a Guardian's room no less. Now _that_ would have caused countless amounts of rumours!

I thanked Crispin once more for showing me to Ali's room and he simply left me to it, not wanting to pry into my personal business. I took a deep breath and turned to Ali's door. I braced myself and prepared myself as best as I could before tapping gently on his door.

I could hear the shuffling from the other side of the door and a moment later, the door opened and I saw Ali looking somewhat dishevelled. As soon as he saw me, his eyes widened in surprise and he tried to shut the door on me but I slammed my hand against his door and pushed against his attempts to shut me out.

"Kai, this really isn't a good time."

"Hm… well unless you've got a girl hidden in there and are about to get down to it, this is as good a time as any."

"Kai…"

"Stop being such a sissy and just let me in already before Guardians decide to turn up or something." I glared menacingly at him through the gap between the door and the door frame.

"I'm not being a sissy," he protested indignantly.

"Then let me the fuck in."

"Language."

"Listen to me, Ali, and listen to me good. I'm confused as hell and I'm not going to let you beat around the bush for as long as you like. Whether you want to or not, we're going to talk this out and you are going to explain to me why you were behaving like that back at the office because I'm too stupid to be able to work something like that out by myself."

He stared at me in stubbornness for several moments longer before he finally conceded and let me in. He gave a small sigh and simply stepped aside and headed further into his room. I gently pushed the door open so that I could step in and made sure to shut the door carefully behind me.

I took a quick scan of his room to see where I could sit and I couldn't help but grimace when I noticed how bare his room was with the exception of various pictures which he had pinned up. I also noticed that there were various traces of blue tack left on the walls. It was as though there used to be something there and it was taken off.

There was a bed that was slightly bigger than a single with simple faded blue sheets, a small work desk that was placed against the wall with a shelf above it attached to the wall. There were barely any books there at all and I wasn't surprised about that. What I was surprised about was the lack of DVDs in his room.

From what I could remember, Ali was the type of person who liked to spend every spare moment he had either watching and analysing movies or playing pranks on people he didn't particularly like. For him to not have a room filled with movies was an odd concept for me and I wondered why. Perhaps it was because the work load was too much for him. But that didn't make any sense. Yes, working as a Guardian at the Academy would have been hard, involving night shifts to patrol around the perimeter, but it couldn't have been so tough that he didn't have moments to watch a movie.

There was a medium sized wardrobe and a chest of drawers right beside it not far from the desk and draped on either side of the window were dreary looking green curtains that reminded me of sick. I grimaced at the lack of style in the room and I made a mental note that I would give him suggestions to make his room look a little nicer.

Then another thought occurred to me. I had been under the impression that although everyone had stopped actively looking for me, they still cared for me. If that was the case, then why wasn't there a single photo of me in his room? Even in Aunty Jules' and Martin's office there was at least one framed photo of me somewhere. I had hoped to see at least one if not a dozen pictures of our time together back when I was younger in his room. The lack of pictures struck something inside and I felt hurt and disappointment rise like the tide.

I didn't have long to dwell on that feeling because, a moment later, I was being tugged onto Ali's bed and he sat me on my haunches in front of him between his legs. Our bodies were so close that they were almost pressing against each other and I couldn't help but get lost in those eyes of his as he stared down at me with assessing eyes.

I gasped as I felt his hands on my bare skin and squirmed under his touch as he lifted my shirt up slightly and tugged my trousers down enough so that he could peel the bandage off my skin. This time he did press me up against his body so that he could rest his chin on my shoulder and get a proper look at the mark that had been given to me since I was a baby to identify me as the last Ivashkov heir.

I shuddered under his touch as he brushed his fingers against the mark. I couldn't remember ever feeling this way towards Ali before and it was an odd feeling. Of course, it would have been incredibly wrong if I had felt this way towards him six years ago since that would have been considered paedophilia. But this was a new sensation. For the moment, this Ali seemed like a stranger that I wasn't familiar with. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to say. My mind just blanked.

I remembered what Crispin had just told me and held onto the sense of confusion and wonder and bafflement. If Crispin was right, then what I was feeling was something similar to what Ali and probably the others were feeling. I was a different person, and yet I was still the same in many ways. Yes, the old times were important, but it was also important to remember not to dwell too much in it and remember to look ahead into the future so that one would not get too caught up in the past and become unable to take a step forward.

"Ali…"

"Shh…" he murmured against my hair. "Please, just bear with me for a moment."

I closed my mouth and simply let him trace over the magical mark that proved who I was. It was the one thing that I could never run away from no matter where I went or who I was with.

"You really are back…"

* * *

**_Next chapter will be a pretty intense conversation between Kai and Ali!_**

**_~Lyn~_**


	34. Chapter 33

**_I'm so sorry about the total lack of updates! But here it is and I hope that people like the high quality bonding time between Kai and Ali. I know I certainly loved writing about it!_**

* * *

Chapter 33

"You really are back…" he whispered and buried his face into the crook of my neck.

His arms wrapped around me tightly and I was pulled into an almost suffocating hug. I squealed in response as I was squashed against him and for several moments, I simply sat there awkwardly, waiting for him to pull away.

Eventually, he did and he held me at arm's length so that he could inspect me again.

"Ali, it's been a whole week already…"

"I know, little sky. I know. But that doesn't make this any easier to accept," he sighed. "You're the same person, but at the same time, I feel like I don't know who you are. I've missed out on so much. I've missed out on you growing up, Kalster and that makes things difficult. Sometimes, I don't know how I should act or behave. I still feel like you're the same kid from back then and I just react based on what I remember of you, but you're much stronger than that now, aren't you? Much, much stronger."

"I'm sorry for changing, Ali."

"Don't be. It's not your fault. It's mine for wanting to keep you all to myself. I used to know you the best, Kalster, and now… now you're opening your world more and I guess that I just feel a little lonely because you're so capable now."

"I'll always be here, Alster." I smiled and touched his chest. "No matter where I am, I will always have you and everyone in my heart. None of that ever changed, not for a single moment. No matter what I did, no matter what I worked for, I always thought about how my parents to react, how my family would react. Would they be proud? Would they chastise me? That was how I learned to be independent out there. I had to begin thinking more rationally. I had to take into account what would be crazy and yet still be reasonable and safe. The way that I am now is very much thanks to you all. If it weren't for you guys never giving up on me when I was younger, I would never have become the way I am now. You guys may not have been there to witness my development of becoming more confident, but it was made possible because of you guys and for that I would eternally be grateful."

"You always were great at sweet talking, Kalster," he smiled down at me. He reached out and brushed several loose strands of hair from my face and cupped my cheeks. "I love you."

I stared up at him in surprise at the sudden confession. I blinked profusely and I felt my heart speed up at the warm smile that he was giving me. The love that radiated from his smile was heart-warming and I couldn't help but smile back at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tugged his head down so that our foreheads and noses touched.

"I love you too, Ali. Always know that. You'll always have a special place in my heart that no one will ever be able to replace."

"And the same to you, little Kalster. The same for you."

"Do you think you'll be able to get used to it?"

"The fact that you're no longer the cute little girl who used to follow me around most of the time six years ago? I think I can handle that fact soon enough." Ali smiled. "I'm sorry about how I behaved earlier, and for how I behaved last night outside of the Academy. I'm sorry for underestimating you because I still wanted to hold onto the fact that you were the same as six years ago. I think I managed to get my wake-up call today though and who you choose to trust is your decision. I trust you, Kalster, and I trust in your decision. I'll always be there to help you if you ever make a slip-up. I'll always have your back, no matter what happens."

"And I'll always have your back too, Ali. Always."

For several moments, we stayed resting against each other's foreheads without saying anything. Eventually, he broke the silence with a beaming smile and he suddenly burst into laughter, causing me to become confused once more.

"Um… Ali?" I glanced at him nervously as he broke down laughing even more.

He clutched at my shoulders and his head slowly sank into my lap as he continued to laugh. "I can't believe how childish I have been for the past six years. I can finally bring the box back out."

"The box?" I frowned.

"Yes, the box," he nodded.

He got off of the bed and tugged out two cardboard boxes from beneath his bed and I watched curiously as he began to unpack one. I felt my face warming by the second when I noticed what he was taking out from the box.

Pictures.

Stacks and stacks of pictures, in particular of the times from the time when I met him up to the time I ran away. I had hoped that he would keep a few pictures of us together, but I never would have thought that he would keep virtually all of them!

Not only that, but he pulled out another box which was filled to the brim with DVDs. DVDs that were unwatched and were still kept in their plastic wrapping. I was thoroughly confused with why he had so many DVDs and yet the majority of them were unwatched.

"Um… Alster? Is there any reason as to why you have so many DVDs that are still sealed?" I frowned as I crouched down and looked at the many different titles. I soon realised that each and every one of the sealed ones were the type of movies that both Ali and I loved to watch.

"Like I said, I was being ridiculously childish," he smiled sheepishly at me.

"Oh? In what way?"

"I couldn't bear to watch the movies without you being here, Kalster. It didn't feel right, and every time that I saw a trailer of these films, I couldn't help but think of how much you would love it too. It hurt too much so instead of watching these films, I just bought the DVDs and kept them in storage waiting for the day that you would come back."

"Why did you have to keep it under your bed though?"

"Because I couldn't bear to have them out in the open. Just seeing the title made me think of you, Kalster, and thinking of you hurt."

I thought about it for a moment and understood his reasoning. There were far too many occasions where I had broken down into tears outside of the Academy in the past six years due to seeing pictures of my family here and thinking of the memories that I had. I had to guess that Ali just couldn't handle the idea of almost bursting into tears every time he saw pictures of me.

"Is that why there are barely any pictures on your walls?" I asked.

"You've hit the bull's eye."

"You know, Alster, that is awfully petty of you."

"You never should have left. If you wanted to stay on my walls, you should have stayed here where you belong."

"Alster…" I stared at him in regret. "I don't regret being out there. I don't regret having left this Academy at all."

"Don't you?" he asked me bitterly and I could see the jealousy rising from the gleam in his eyes.

"No, Alster, I don't. Yes, I know that I have missed the last six years of your lives, and I have missed quite a few things that have probably happened while I was gone, but I definitely don't regret my decision to break out six years ago to live in the outside world. I needed that in order to grow up into someone I've always wanted to be. I've always wanted to be confident with myself, Alster. You of all people should know that I have, and I never would have been able to become the way that I am now without my experiences of the outside world."

"You could have grown into a normal fine girl here."

"No, Alster, I couldn't. You're just being stubborn and you know it. The other royals would have done whatever they could to shape me into the little heir that they needed me to be. They would have ruthlessly used me, tricked me and I would have been involved in their sick games starting from the age of 10. I didn't want to have to face that. I already had to face it for a week between the death and the actual funeral proceedings. I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle it for long so I knew that I had to break free."

"But you have changed so much…" he blinked at me and I let out a heavy sigh.

I tugged him closer to the bed so that he stood between my legs and I held his face in my hands. I stared up at him seriously and thought about what I could possibly say to help make him see that although I was different, I was still the same.

"Alster, just because I have grown more confident doesn't change anything. It doesn't change how you have to behave around me. I think that the only thing that changes is the fact that you no longer have to watch out for me like I was some kind of a helpless baby who couldn't stand on her own two feet. I can do that now, but my humour is still the same, my personality is still the same, the things I like and don't like haven't changed either. Yes, I have grown physically and emotionally stronger, but that doesn't mean that you have to change the way you want to behave around me. Just behave the way that you want to and don't try to over think this. Besides, I'm not the only one who's changed. Out of everyone else, you have changed a lot as well."

"No I haven't. I haven't changed at all," he protested. "In what way have I changed? Besides, how do you know? You've only been back a week and only started seeing me from Wednesday onwards. How do you know how I've changed?"

"I know because I've seen the way you fight and I can still remember the way that you used to fight before. You've grown so much stronger, Alster. You've covered a lot of the flaws that you used to have, and the way you see some things have become a lot more mature than you would've done six years ago. Things have changed, Alster, but that's something that's inevitable. It only seems so daunting because you aren't used to it yet. Give it another week or so and things will be fine again, I promise."

"How can you promise that? How do you know that you aren't going to somehow throw me into panic again with some kind of a crazy talent that you have developed?"

"Well, for one thing, I'm pretty sure that you've seen everything that I can do except for my true fighting and cooking skills, and two, I know because I remember that you used to take longer than everybody else to adapt to a new situation."

"How do you know that I haven't grown out of that?"

"I don't, but from the way that you reacted back in Martin's office, I think that it's clear to the both of us that you still haven't fully grasped the ability to adapt and get used to a situation as quickly as the others, Alster."

"Damn, you've gotten really smart with your tongue over the years…" he muttered under his breath.

"Alster, I've been smart tongued since I was born." I rolled my eyes. "It's in my blood from both Mum and Dad. I just didn't use to be nearly as vocal as I am now."

"If you had been as vocal as you are now, you never would have felt the need to leave this place. You would've torn down each and every royal with your words alone and then kicked their asses."

"I didn't used to be so strong either. I was terrible back then, remember? I used to end up in Rosette's office at least once a day covered in injuries because of the heavy training."

"And that's probably what kept you alive out there."

"You're certainly right about that. If it hadn't been for the lessons that my parents taught me, I wouldn't have had a single clue about what to do out there. I wouldn't have known the first rule of defence against Strigoi let alone how to fight them effectively. Yes it was hard for the few months since I was still trying to get the hang of being alone. But it somehow worked out and I finally put my parents' teachings to good use. If it weren't for the combat training that I used to have, I wouldn't have been able to come up with new training schedules of my own to fit around my normal everyday life."

"Out of interest, what _was_ your training schedule that got you as well trained as you are now that you could beat at least two of our best Guardians and all four of the main royals?"

"Weights were the key ingredient in my schedule and then everything sort of developed around that. My speed and therefore my reflexes increased as did my overall strength. Then I just did as much martial arts training as I could whilst learning about all the sensitive points of a body made up of muscles and where to press to temporarily disable an opponent. Although Strigoi are much stronger and sturdier, the same rules of the human body still apply. The main difference is how long the disability lasts and I found that that varied from Strigoi to Strigoi. I think that it depended on how old and strong the Strigoi was. If they were freshly fed by Moroi blood then they were definitely a lot stronger and therefore a lot harder to incapacitate. Those who were in the middle of hunting were often more frantic and weaker and depended predominantly on primal instincts and therefore didn't think as rationally as they could've done which gave me the upper hand."

"You've learned to be able to tell differences between Strigoi and their state of mind and what made them that way?"

"I kind of had to. If I knew what state of mind they were in, it made it a whole lot easier to fight them."

"I never would've expected you to turn into some sort of a strategist. You used to be the type to just knock everything down with as much brute force as you possibly could without actually having the strength to resolve problems by sheer force."

"Oh thanks Alster, way to point out how pathetic I used to be." I scoffed.

"Does the whole being a strategist thing come from playing soccer for the past six years or so?"

"Nope." I smirked and let the 'p' pop. "I learnt that ability from having gotten involved in so many pranks of yours when I was just a kid and then I changed the purpose of that type of skill for something more practical instead."

"See, so those pranks did come in handy."

"I never once said that they didn't. If I recall, I had once declared that playing pranks on people with you was my best past time ever and that I never wanted those moments to end."

"The times when we used to plan how we were going to prank someone was amazing. I miss those days when we used to decide on a target, gather information about them and then execute the plans. That was the best time of my life."

"Oh? I would've thought that getting your first girlfriend had been the best time of your life?" I arched my brows. "I recall you saying something like that."

"Of course you would, you got so jealous that you refused to speak to me for an entire week and a half and even ignored and avoided me as much as you could. Then it took another week to be able to convince you that the girl wasn't an evil creature trying to take me away from you."

"Okay… so I was really childish back then…" I blushed and turned away from him.

I was surprised when he suddenly grabbed my face and turned me to face him. "Don't."

"Don't what?" I arched my brows again.

"Don't hide your face away from me," he told me seriously with such an intense tone that it made my breath catch.

Here it was again. This was the Ali that I had been catching snippets of since I first saw him again last week. This was the Ali that I didn't know. Yes, I knew that six years ago Ali was an incredibly caring person who was quite deep when it came to emotions. But I didn't know that he was capable of being so intense.

Seeing him like this scared me somewhat. I didn't know what to make of the fact that he directed this intensity towards me and I didn't know what the emotion that swirled so heavily in his eyes was. I had a feeling that I would need to figure that out soon because not knowing what that emotion was could potentially get me into trouble.

"I lost you for six years. You owe me at least six years' worth of company, Kalster."

"Wow… that's a long time, Ali. How on earth can I pay you back?" I grinned.

"You can start by sneaking out at night and helping me with my night patrols. They are so boring," he complained.

"You have to do night patrols as well?"

"Of course. I'm a Guardian working at this school not as an appointed Guardian to a Moroi here. Speaking of appointed Guardians, I was going to be assigned to you."

"Huh?" I blinked in surprise. "How would that have worked? You graduated way before me."

"Your parents never told you and neither did Martin and Juliet but they had all been thinking of making me stay at school after Graduation to help out with classes and then when you graduated, I was going to be assigned as your main Guardian."

"Basically, if I hadn't run away, we were pretty much going to be inseparable."

"That sounds about right."

I thought about it for a while. I thought about what it might be like to have had Ali by my side all this time. What would it have been like? What would have happened between us if he had stayed by my side and I hadn't left the Academy at all?

All of those question whirled around my mind but I came to the same conclusion no matter what question I asked myself. There was no point in asking the 'what ifs' since it was an irrevocable fact that I did leave the Academy and I had left it for six whole years if not a little more than that. Nothing was going to change that fact and nothing was going to change the fact that I had changed in a different way to the way I would have done had I stayed in this place. None of that was going to change and there was no point in trying to think about what might have happened had I never left. What was more important was to think about what I was going to do with the present and think about the future one step at a time. Anything was possible in this place so thinking too far into the future was a fairly foolish thing to try and do.

For all I knew, there could be an attack that might change my life entirely once more. No doubt, when my secret was out, which would be let out eventually since that was something that would definitely be inevitable my life would take a 180 spin as well. There were so many things that would undoubtedly happen in the future that would change my life and there was no knowing when these things might happen. It seemed that the best course of action would be to take things in stride and to just simply go one step at a time and take decisions as I went along. That seemed like the best thing to do at the moment.

"So, considering how I owe you six years' worth of company, why don't we start that now by watching a film?" I suggested as I picked out a title from the many sealed DVD boxes.

"Before we do that, we need to find somewhere where we can catch up on all the years that I've missed. We can't just go to each other's rooms anymore, not when I'm an official Guardian and you are for all eyes and ears just an undergraduate who has only just recently transferred here. If we are caught by someone outside of the family unit, there will be a lot of terrible rumours flying around."

"You know, Alster, six years ago, you would have simply said sod off to rumours and just disregard them."

"Yes, but six years ago I was still just a brat like you were who didn't need to care about rumours. Back then, neither of our futures and impressions were at stake. Now? Now everything is different, Kalster, and although I couldn't care less about my reputation but you? You have such a future ahead of you and I don't want stupid rumours to get in the way of that."

"I don't care about rumours."

"I know you don't, but I'm afraid the rest of the world doesn't really hold the same view." Ali smiled crookedly and kissed my forehead.

"Then what are we going to do? Aside from me tagging along with your night duties in secret which Aunty Jules can probably make up some excuse for anyway, how are we going to catch up on all these films?"

Ali seemed to hesitate for a few moments and I sensed the unease that seemed to suddenly consume him. I poked him to urge him to say what was on his mind and eventually, after staring at me for several long moments, he finally did.

"There is one place we can go but none of us were sure whether you'd be able to handle it just yet."

"Oh?"

"Your house," he stated bluntly and my mind was blown to oblivion.


	35. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

"My… my house?" I choked out.

"Yes, little sky, your house." Ali nodded hesitantly and I could tell that he was watching me as my expression faltered and crumbled to complete distress.

Memories of six years ago flooded my mind instantly and I knew exactly what he had meant. He had meant that we could use the house that I used to live in. The house that I used to live in with my now deceased parents. If I went back there, I knew that memories of how life used to be back then would consume me and I would probably break down into a total mess the same way that I had done on the first day that I was back at the Academy after having had the talk with Martin in his office.

I wasn't sure if I could handle another break down again so soon. I hadn't even considered the idea, the possibility, that they had kept my parents' house empty. I would have thought that after such a long time they would have remodelled it to cater for other visitors or royals in this school. I hadn't once thought about the chance that they might have kept my parents' house the way that we had left it.

All my questions about what state the house might be in were answered by Ali's next comment.

"We left the house as it was and didn't change anything at all. The only thing that we did do was to tidy it up a little bit and to continue dusting it every now and then and use it as a base for gathering but that kind of meeting diminished pretty quickly after I graduated and was assigned a charge to take care of. But now that we're all back together, we could definitely start those gatherings back up again. It would certainly be a nice way for us all to catch up without the fear of someone interfering."

"Why? Why didn't any of you move on?" I whispered as I stared up at him.

Although I didn't want them to move on, I couldn't help but think that it would have been horrible to hang onto the past in such a way if I did die out there while I was on my own. None of them had any type of reassurance that I was still alive. They couldn't have possibly had any idea that one day I might be back. Even I had absolutely no idea that I would one day be back. I had never even considered the idea.

Yes, I had missed my family here. But I also loved the life and freedom that I had out there and after having already been gone for so long, I couldn't possibly just come back out of nowhere. I had never thought that I would one day be caught out by a Guardian from the Academy, especially not from St. Vlads. If it had been any other Guardian, and I had bumped in a fair share in the past, I could easily blag my way through and no one had ever suspected a thing. Not even Arthur and Tamara had any idea that I was the runaway Ivashkov heir. No one knew, and I was perfectly happy to keep it that way.

At least, that was how I used to think, but now that I was back I couldn't help but feel glad that I was found out by Joe. I couldn't help but feel as though, while I was living out there, every single day I had been waiting for them to appear out of nowhere and to bring me back home. Loving my freedom out there was one thing, but absolutely nothing could beat the family I had here and having come back for a week now really hammered that thought home. Now that I was back and fully knowing that I had my family with me I suddenly couldn't understand how I had managed to hold on for so long out there. How had I managed to live alone for so long? What had that been like? It had only been a week, but already I was beginning to forget what my life out there was like in terms of living alone.

Of course, I would never forget my experiences at school as a member of various different clubs, nor would I forget about my job, but suddenly living on campus again with other people around me, I suddenly couldn't remember what it was like to live on my own, to have meals on my own occasionally, and to not be wondering around in the middle of the night chasing after stray Strigoi.

That kind of life, although I had only left it about a week ago, suddenly seemed so long ago and it seemed so far away from me.

"What are you thinking about?" he whispered as he stroked my cheeks. "You seem to have a very complicated expression on at the moment."

"I'm just thinking how on earth I managed to hold on all this time out there without you guys around." I smiled sheepishly and rested my forehead gently against his.

"I've been wondering that every single day since I found out you were back."

"It just seems so unreal right now. I've been gone for six years, and yet here I am back again and the family is coming back together like nothing ever happened. We're connecting just as we had done six years ago and it just seems so surreal. I can't remember how I used to get by without having you guys around anymore. It's only been a week but… I honestly can't remember."

"And I have every intention of making sure that you will never have the need to remember how to get through every day without knowing that we were there for you. I lost you once, little sky and that is already one time too many for me. I won't ever let you slip away like you had done six years ago ever again. If you even consider doing this to do again, I promise you, I will hunt you down and I will leave no place in the world unsearched."

"I certainly don't want to get on your bad side, Ali."

"Unless you decide to stupidly think about leaving and taking the burden by yourself again without letting us help you, you won't ever have to worry about something like that," he scoffed. "But seriously, you can't do this to us again. Not when we've got you back and you turned out to have grown so well."

"Considering how there isn't really much else that I can learn by being on my own out there anymore, I don't really have any objections to staying here for the rest of my life."

"Is that all?"

"Well, the lovely people here who are with me are certainly a bonus." I grinned.

"Ah yes, speaking of people here who might make you want to stay. I've heard and seen about Cooper. Just how on earth did that happen? I have to say that I didn't really see that one coming at all. I had a feeling that he would try to aim for you but I didn't really expect you to agree."

"Ali, I'm not a saint. If an attractive boy is vying for my attention so blatantly the way that he was, I don't really have any reason to object unless I had someone else that I wanted to go out with." I told him honestly.

"Just be careful, Kai. I know that people say great things about him, but I also know from experience that it is most often the people who appear to have a perfect record and is still able to be popular and ace everything that are the most dangerous, especially in our community. If they are a teacher's pet and are as seemingly squeaky clean as Cooper is, then that means that he is definitely hiding something."

"Either that or he's just never been caught." I scoffed. "You seemed to be saying the exact same thing that Guardian Jenson was trying to tell me. He was leaning more towards the fact that I needed to be careful and not get myself pregnant though and ruining my chances of having a brilliant career as a Guardian."

"This was probably said to you before he found out though, right?"

"Yeah."

"I've been meaning to ask, but do you actually have the intentions of becoming a proper Guardian?"

"I don't know, Ali." I sighed and shook my head. "I don't really want to talk too much about this topic since I still have two years until graduation, but even I know that my secret is going to get exposed at some point before I graduate. I would be lucky if I manage to get away with it for a whole year but I honestly don't think that it will last that long. I don't really think that fate likes me well enough to do that. Somewhere down the line, something is going to happen that will expose my secret and I don't really know what could happen after that. All I know for sure is that there will be chaos."

"I'm not asking what you think will happen in the future, Kai. I want to know whether you really want to be a Guardian who protects a charge."

"At the moment, I have absolutely no idea. I'll let you know if I change my mind."

"What is the likelihood that you will change your mind?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I will change my mind when I find someone worth risking my life for the way that a proper Guardian is supposed to do to their designated charge." I smiled.

"Have you ever thought of the likelihood of someone requesting you?"

"Don't joke, Ali." I smacked him in the arm. "What idiot would request me as their Guardian?"

"Kai, I don't think you fully understand. You are aware of how strong and capable you are in comparison to a lot of already fully pledged Guardians here, and yet you don't seem to have thought about the possibility that because you are so capable, there will be people fighting amongst themselves to have you as their Guardian."

"You're kidding…" I stared at him in shock and mulled over his words for a moment and realised that he was right.

I had only been concerned about being strong to protect the people important to me that I hadn't even begun to consider the idea of someone wanting to request me as their Guardian. I realised that my experience and desire to protect people would appeal to a lot of people and that although people don't know why exactly I had worked so hard to become strong, they would only see me as a good choice of request.

I cursed and smacked my forehead in reprimand of my own foolishness for not having realised it earlier.

"I definitely didn't think of that." I groaned.

"Fortunately for you, you have a long time before you have to make that kind of choice, Kai. You don't really need to think seriously about it for at least another year and a half. You're one of the lucky Guardians who don't have to think too hard about working towards impressing others to get a good charge. What you'll need to concern yourself with at a later date would be who to accept as your charge."

"That's no better!" I protested and threw my arms up in frustration.

Ali laughed and just hugged me to him once more. "You are absolutely hilarious, Kai, you know that?"

"Oh, I'm glad that I'm amusing you, Ali." I scoffed. "Speaking of charges, how did you get yours? Was he a friend that you wanted to have as your charge or did you just random get selected and mashed together with some Moroi?"

"Well, we were casually mashed together as you so delicately put it," he grimaced. "But we weren't exactly the best of friends either."

"Who was it?"

"Jonathon Dashkov."

"Wait… Jonathon Dashkov as the one who was only on the outskirts of the whole Royal system? The one who wasn't a full royal due to the diluted blood line?"

"That's the one."

"Isn't that the exact same one who used to irritate you to the point of no return?" I frowned.

"That's the exact one. You've got a brilliant memory considering it was six years ago."

"I'm alright at remembering things that stand out, especially when it comes to people and their actions or relationships. How on earth did that happen?"

"Well, not long after you left, there was even more chaos after everything that happened that month. For some reason John decided to get his act together and went for joining the Council so that he could have a say in politics."

"He wanted to join the Council? Was he crazy?!"

"It wasn't actually that bad of a decision. As annoying as he was, he was smart and intelligent and had amazing ideas, even I couldn't deny that. Apparently, because of his goal, he had decided that he wanted to have one of the better Guardians by his side to help him through, someone who wasn't stupid or just a sheep and someone who wouldn't be afraid to tell their opinion the way it was without caring about who their charge was."

"And of course, the only person who fit that description was you."

"He wasn't actually that bad towards Graduation. After you leaving, I got my act together as well and stopped mucking too much. In fact, I think I was around the same age as you are now when you left back then."

"That does sound about right." I smiled.

"What have you got planned tonight?"

"Nothing that I know of, why? You want me to sneak out?"

"If you're not too tired do you think you can sneak out after lights out? I'll ask Martin's permission about it so that if you are caught you don't get into trouble but I think that you should probably go see your house as soon as possible. If you delay it for any longer it think that the strain will just be worse when you eventually get round to it."

I stared at Ali for several moments and I contemplated on refusing it. The truth was, I really didn't want to see my old house. I didn't want to go back there. I didn't want to for fear of everything rushing back all at once and that I just might revert back to the way I used to be due to the shock. I might reminisce too much in that house and forget who I am now. I might get confused about who I really am. If I went back to that house, I knew that I would remember myself as the Ivashkov princess again, a person that I hadn't even thought about since the day I left the Academy. I hadn't thought of myself as the princess for such a long time and I didn't know what it would be like to remember that no matter how much I try to run away from the truth, that was who I was. That was my identity and no matter what I did, there was nothing that I could do to change that fact.

But deep down I knew, that despite my irrational fear, Ali was right. The longer that I kept myself away from my old house, the worse it would be when I eventually saw it again. The sooner that I got this done, the better it would be. I knew that he was right, and that was why I decided to agree to sneaking out after lights out.

"If you clear it with Martin then where do you want me to meet you?" I asked him.

"I'll wait for you outside your window. If I ask you to meet at the house, you'll probably think about running away at the last second and not go through with it."

"So you're planning on dragging me kicking and screaming?"

"If there is a need for it then yes. But then again, you'd never stand me up so you just might hold that into consideration before you bolt."

"Hey, how do you know that I'd never stand you up?" I protested indignantly.

"Instinct, Kalster. You're too nice to do that to someone you like to a certain degree."

"I might have changed, you know."

"You've changed, I'm finally starting to get that, but I do know that that isn't one of the things that's changed about you."

"Damn it you caught me." I grumbled.

"I'll be outside your window just after lights out."

"You know, Alster, if you get caught hanging around outside, people are going to think that you're a stalker." I laughed.

"I'll make some kind of an excuse to get around it," he shrugged. "You should probably leave the Guardian Quarters before anyone decides to come back for a chill. I don't think that we can possibly think of a logical reason for you to be here, especially not in a male Guardian's room."

"I couldn't agree with you more on that." I nodded.

With that said, we gave each other another hug and I gingerly opened the door and glanced along the corridor to make sure that no one was around before sneaking out of Ali's room and making my way out of the Guardian's Quarters as quickly as I could without getting caught.

I felt considerably lighter after having had that well needed conversation. For one thing, I was no longer left feeling completely baffled and confused by what was happening, especially with regards to people's emotions and reactions to what was going on. But now that one problem was dealt with, I had another one following straight after.

I had to go back to my house.

The house that I grew up in.

The house that held so many precious memories that I had kept locked up and hidden for the past six years to keep myself from crying all the time. To say that I would be a nervous wreck if I were to enter the house would be one heck of an understatement. I was absolutely terrified of going back there. I was terrified of feeling so weak and helpless again, something that I hadn't really felt since leaving the school.

Leaving the vampire community, where higher strength for dhampirs was the norm, and immersing myself within the human society had really boosted my self-confidence. Being out there with people who would naturally have less strength and stamina than me had really helped me see myself in a new light. I was no longer comparing myself to people who were much more outgoing and better at what I was supposed to be good at. I was no longer constantly being compared to either by the other royals who would always give me snide and condescending glances as though I was nothing more than filth on their shoes. Although no one had ever said anything directly to me, they never had to, because even as a young child I was good at reading what was in people's eyes. Even back then I was observant and had learnt to read the emotion and thought just by looking at the way someone's eyes gleamed. It was in their tones as well.

It didn't matter that my parents were well respected people, the fact that I was a freak was unchangeable. I was an unexplainable existence that not even my parents could justify. They loved me. I knew that. But I also knew that there had been moments when they were somewhat troubled by the fact that I wasn't a part of either race. I was neither a dhampir nor a Moroi. I was an unnatural being, an outsider.

I knew that they used to be concerned about what would happen as I grew older and whether I would ever be accepted by people. Back then, children growing up were constantly influenced by what the adults said about me and I knew that if I hadn't left, the children would have grown up being constantly influenced by their parents' comments and opinions about me. If I hadn't left, no one would have been able to see me with fresh eyes not heavily influenced by the opinions of the older generations. They would have always seen me as what the adults said I was and never would've had the opportunity to see me as I was really was. They wouldn't have been able to see past my oddity.

And even now I wonder what would happen if the truth was to be revealed. I knew there would be chaos. But would people still view me as a freak the same way they had back then? Would they even remember how they felt about me back then considering how insignificant I used to be despite occasionally being at the centre of attention due to my should-have-been impossible talents to wield any element I wanted.

Even more so, thinking back to something that Drew had said once since my return, I wondered that if he had the chance to, would he really want to try training with a dhampir who could fight like I could as well as wield magic the way that he could. If he knew that his dream wasn't actually impossible, what would he do?


	36. Chapter 35

**_Eep! I'm so sorry for the long delay between uploads but I was on a block for a while with this story but I'm fairly sure that I've finally got it back on track so hopefully the future chapters won't take as long between uploads! I hope you enjoy this chapter because there will be a Drew and Kai moment going on here!_**

**_Lyn xx_**

* * *

_**~x~ Chapter 35 ~x~**_

"You didn't get into trouble with the Headmaster already, did you?" a familiar voice commented in amusement from behind me and I whirled around in surprise.

Well speak of the devil. I had been so absorbed in my own thoughts that I didn't even notice him approach me.

"Why do you ask?" I frowned, wondering why he would ask such a thing.

"Apparently you were being escorted by Jenson and Maxwell to his office earlier. You didn't answer my question."

"I'm not in trouble. He just had something that he wanted to ask me."

"Oh really? It's not that usual for the Headmaster to need to personally ask a student something."

"It wasn't really anything that serious. He just wanted to make sure that honestly nothing happened during that little trip of ours."

"That was it?"

"I might be a trouble maker, Ozera, but even I won't be stupid enough to do something too serious so soon. Not if I want to have any chances of staying at this place long term."

"I've been meaning to ask, but you seem to be quite close to a few of the Guardians here. Why is that?"

"I'm pretty sure I've told you before, but you really do ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

"Only because you seem to be very interesting."

"You are a pretty big mystery yourself. I still can't work out whether you're an open or closed person. You obviously have something else you want to say so why are you beating around the bush? It's not very like you to not get straight to the point."

Drew glanced at me for a moment before giving a wide smile. "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"Right back at you." I grinned. "So what did you want to say to me?"

"Eric Cooper is up to no good."

"I knew something was up!" I pointed at him. "I knew something felt off back at lunch."

"You were right."

"But I'm sort of glad."

"Oh?"

"I'm glad that you're telling me the reason why you seemed to be so closed off back then. I would hate to be back at square one with you."

Drew smirked and stepped towards me. I watched him warily and stepped away. He seemed to enjoy cornering me and we continued that process until I was pressed up against the wall and he had his hands on either side of me head. I stared up at him in confusion, wondering what he was up to.

"If someone catches us in this position, there will be a lot of rumours for sure, you know?" I arched my brows up at him.

"Rumours don't mean anything to me. It's not as if it could harm me."

"So, you're deciding to play it cool, are you?"

"So it seems. So, why would you hate to be back to square one with me?"

"You're a tough nut to crack, Ozera. It doesn't take a genius to work that out."

"No, especially when you are the same."

"Precisely. I would rather not have to go through trying to break through your exterior again and be total strangers like we were at the start. You're confusing and complicated enough as it is, I'd hate to have to go back to when you were closed off and less carefree with your words."

"I'm never carefree with my words."

"Fine, less open about what's actually on your mind." I rephrased. "Either way, it causes headache to try and figure out what you mean to say when you are more cryptic and vague which is how you get when you're talking to someone you don't particularly have an interest in."

"Ah, so, you're aware that I'm interested in you."

"For whatever reason that might, yes. I'd have to be blind not to notice that. But then again, after today, it seems that the whole damn school is interested in me in some way shape or form."

"Well, you are just such a big mystery to us all."

"And that's the way I intend to keep it for a good while yet."

"But not to everyone."

"Hm?"

"You're not nearly half as mysterious when you're around Maxwell. For some reason, you seem oddly more relaxed and comfortable around him and with Castile. Why is that?"

"Maxwell was the one who caught me. He understands some things better than you do. As for Castile, we bonded over the fact that we both love the kids in the elementary division."

The expression that Drew gave me told me that he wasn't buying my explanation one bit. While it may not have been a lie, it certainly wasn't the truth either. Both he and I knew that but he didn't put his doubt into words.

We both glanced to the side when we heard a gasp and we noticed someone staring at us. Neither of us moved and the stranger dashed away.

"Seriously, you've got to move." I laughed and nudged at his chest playfully.

"Don't go out with Cooper."

"What have you got against him? Everyone else seems to like him alright."

"Well, clearly not everyone since according to you, Jenson said the same thing."

"You listen too carefully."

"There's no such thing," he scoffed.

"Well, in my mind, there definitely is, especially if you pick up on things like that. I mean, seriously, just how much attention do you pay to what people say?"

"Don't you do the same?" he arched his brows.

"Well… yeah, but that's beside the point!" I protested.

"It's exactly the same. You're just being stubborn, that's all there is to it."

"And so what if I like being stubborn?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, it just means that I'm right," he smirked.

"And you're still as evasive as ever. Seriously, back up, Ozera."

"Only if you say that you won't go out with Cooper."

"I don't have a reason to reject him."

"So you're just going to wait for him to make the wrong move first?"

"I only have your word that he's up to no good."

"Isn't my word good enough?"

"I hardly know you, Ozera."

"And yet you let me into your apartment and let me stay the night alone with you."

"That was an emergency."

"You could have kicked me out and given me to the guardians."

I paused and stared at him in shock. "There wasn't any reason to kick you out…" I murmured.

"So you don't do things if there isn't a reason for it?"

"That's pretty much my principal most of the time."

"Normally, I would say that it's a good principal, but not on this."

"What do you expect me to say to him? Oh, sorry, let's stop our agreement because Ozera told me that you're bad news. I can't just say that to him, I have to have a reason."

"Are you that desperate to have a boyfriend?" he snapped.

I gasped and glared up at him in fury. "Take that back."

"No, because that's precisely what it looks like you're doing right now."

"Take it back!" I hissed. "If I really wanted to have a boyfriend, I wouldn't have come to any type of agreement and just decided to go out with him straight out. If I wanted to have a boyfriend, I would have one by now." I shoved him in the chest, harder this time and he stumbled away from me with a slight wheeze. "You don't have any right to butt in like this."

"Are we friends?"

"Yes, we are, but that doesn't mean that you can tell me who I can and can't go out with. You can make suggestions but you can't dominate my life like this." I shook my head.

"Why won't you listen to my advice?"

"I am listening. I'll take heed of your warning but this doesn't change anything."

"This conversation isn't going anywhere, is it?" he sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Nope. So, I say we just drop it."

"At least promise me one thing."

"It depends what it is."

"Be careful around him. Trust me when I say, that guy is up to no good." Drew told me firmly and I couldn't help but believe him.

Some deep part of me knew what Drew was trying to say. Even I knew that there was something about Eric that just didn't sit right but at the moment I couldn't really explain why he made me feel that way. I didn't know whether he was threatening or not but I was certainly going to find out. If he was trouble, I would definitely find out and I would be more than happy to teach him a lesson. If he wasn't, then I got to have a nice time. I was willing to accept either situation, and it definitely wasn't up to Drew to decide for me no matter how sincere and serious he was about it.

"I promise to be careful, but that's all." I told him with a level tone.

"Well, that's better than nothing," he sighed and took a step back so that there was a normal distance between us now.

"And it's all you're going to get." I scoffed. "You know, this would be a whole lot easier if you would just tell me why you don't like the guy so much."

"It's not my story to tell."

"So, someone else is involved with your tremendous dislike towards Eric Cooper?"

"Yes."

"I've been wondering something. How often do the four of you royal elites train outside of class time?"

"Usually we put in an hour every day."

"Wow… that's some real dedication for you."

"It's not so much training, more like fitness maintenance. Actually training we put in a couple of hours a week depending on how busy we are."

"How often do these training sessions involve magic?"

"What's with all the questions?"

"I'm just curious, that's all. Don't forget, you guys are on a ban."

"Like that's going to stop us."

"You've got the balls to go up against Belikov's command?"

"Not quite. But since we're Moroi, there are other things that we can train in aside from physical combat. She never did specify what kind of training we were banned from and our magic classes require us to train as homework and I doubt the ban extends to that."

"Not only strong but smart as well. You just keep getting more impressive every time I talk to you."

"The feeling is mutual."

"Do I interest you?"

"I'm pretty sure I've told you before, you are full of secrets and that makes you interesting."

"I'm pretty sure I've warned you before not to dig too deep otherwise you just might find yourself burned." I smirked.

"Your warning was taken into account."

"And apparently completely ignored."

"I wouldn't say completely ignored. If it was, I'd be doing all I could to pressure you into telling me all of your secrets right now."

"If you tried anything on me, I'd whoop your ass right here regardless of who might be watching."

"And that is precisely why I'm taking it slow. I'll make you tell me your story one of these days, you can count on it."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Ozera. It's going to take a whole lot to make me talk."

"I'm a patient person, I can wait," he told me with a smile that made me doubt myself. If anyone was capable of finding out the truth first out of all the students, it would be Drew Ozera. He just seemed to be one of those types with the penetrating eyes that could see through everything and he certainly had the brains to piece together hints and turn it into fact.

"Are you usually this persistent with people?"

"Not usually."

"You're really weird, I hope you know that."

"You're not exactly normal yourself."

"I am too." I protested indignantly.

Before we could launch into yet another one of our pointless debates, which seemed to happen pretty often with Drew actually, Martin walked around the corner and paused when he saw me and Drew.

I glanced at him and gave him a smile. I could tell from the gleam in his eyes that he was curious but he kept his expression passive and serious so that Drew wouldn't suspect anything. Drew simply stared at Martin politely with a respectful glance before briefly inclining his head. "Headmaster Hunt."

"Prince Ozera." Martin inclined his head in return. "Valentine, I need to speak with you."

Drew turned to face me with an expression that seemed to say 'again?' and I merely smiled wryly at him with a shrug. "Well it seems that I'm being summoned yet again. Laters, Ozera."

"See you round." Drew replied as I walked off towards Martin.

The two of us walked in silence until we reached his office and as soon as the door was shut firmly, Martin began to inquisition. "I knew that you and Prince Ozera were close but I didn't realise just how close."

"You're imagining things, Martin." I told him flatly.

"Am I?" he arched his brows at me knowing full well what he had seen and I couldn't help but blush.

"Okay, so we have an odd relationship going on, so what? It's nothing serious."

"I never said anything about it being serious, little sky," he smirked.

I stared at him, flabbergasted, and slapped my own forehead at my own stupidity. "He has a skill of catching me completely off guard and making me feel totally lost." I sighed as I settled comfortably in one of the sofas in his office.

"Oh? What'd you mean?"

"Just what I said. I don't think he's worked out my secret yet, but he knows that I'm hiding something. He hasn't quite explicitly said that I've been lying, but he knows that sometimes I'm not telling the truth either. He also seems to like playing twenty questions with me."

"Twenty questions?"

"Basically asking me as many questions as he possibly could in the time that we're alone together."

"Why doesn't he just ask you whenever he sees you? Why only when you're alone?"

"I'm not really sure. He probably thinks that I'm more likely to answer if it's just him and me. He's pretty intense sometimes when he wants to know something."

"Well then, that's certainly a trait that the two of you share."

"I'm not intense." I scoffed.

"You are. That is one of the things that haven't changed. Once you've set your mind on something, you will stop at nothing to get it done. That's especially true when you want to know something."

"That's called persistence." I rolled my eyes. "No, I really wouldn't say that I'm intense. Persistent, definitely, but intense? Not compared to him."

"Since I haven't seen what you mean, I can't agree or disagree." Martin shrugged. "Prince Ozera has always had a keen eye for mysteries and you are certainly one of them. If something doesn't quite fit into context, he'll spot it right away. He's incredibly observant, even for a royal having grown up at court."

"I would've thought that growing up at court would do that to people." I commented dryly. "That court is filled with hyenas, you're either observant, or you get eaten and manipulated. It's life's worst survival game."

"I couldn't agree with you more on that. That is the main reason why we are keeping this secret. We want to keep you here, not drive you away."

"I know. I want to stay here as well." I smiled warmly at him.

He seemed to stare sceptically at me for a few moments, as though trying to work out whether I had actually meant what I'd said or not. Eventually he gave a warm smile in return and took long strides towards me before sweeping me up into his arms. "I can't tell you enough how good it is to finally have you back and know how you are."

"I know that I was being really difficult when I first got back last week, but I'm glad to be back as well. Seeing everyone again has made me realise just how important you all are to me. I don't think we've had this conversation yet, have we?"

"No, I don't think we have," he chuckled. He sat opposite me on the sofa and kept one of his hands entwined with mine in a comforting gesture and I smiled at him.

"I am sorry for worrying you all those years ago." I told him sincerely. "I don't regret doing it, but I do regret the worry and stress and panic that I must've caused you guys. It was horrible and cruel of me to put you guys through that especially on the day of the funeral. It wasn't right for me to have done that, but I just had to get away. I couldn't stand the looks and the whispers and the conniving royals anymore. It was either run away or explode."

"It was a fight or flight situation and you chose flight. I have to admit, I think you made the right choice. Yes, we knew that there was every chance we might never see you again, but at least we knew that no matter where you were, unless you were under the captivity of Strigoi, you couldn't have been in a worse situation than when you were here. No matter how much we tried and wanted to, we couldn't protect you from the social hierarchy."

"They were royals, Martin, you guys aren't. Incredibly influential people with a whole lot of power and authority and friends, yes, but up against royals even you guys were struggling. I knew that, I could see it, and that's another reason why I left. I couldn't bear to see you guys being caught in that awkward situation six years ago. You guys are my family, but you also had to be professional to an extent back then."

"I can still remember how wretched I felt back then, wanting to protect you, to shield you away but couldn't because I was the headmaster and couldn't afford to openly favour anyone even if that student was you."

"It wasn't just you either, it was Rosette as well. She took it really hard to see me in the situation that I was in whilst knowing that there was nothing any of you could do to help. I was prey thrown into a den of hyenas. It's crude, but we both know that it's true." I added the last part when I noticed his grimace. "I know that there are nice royals out there, Lord and Lady Badica being the prime examples of that, but back then they weren't the ones who surrounded me. The ones who surrounded me were power hungry maniacs who wanted me as nothing more than a puppet at their disposal."

"Ah, yes. Lord and Lady Badica had certainly taken a liking to you, Kai. What did you think of them?"

"They were really nice. A little reserved and definitely incredibly high classed. I could definitely see them as royals with the way they held themselves and the way they spoke as well. I'm still really surprised with the way they reacted to what happened to Marissa though."

"They both knew that Marissa was at fault, you would have to be blind not to realise that Marissa was in the wrong."

"How is Marissa by the way? I know that it hasn't been all that long yet but is she settling in better wherever she may be right now?"

"I have been speaking to Lord and Lady Badica and keeping up to date with how Marissa is. She isn't attending a school with other royals anymore so the pressure to impress has dwindled considerably. She is doing better, or so I hear."

"So, she's not terrorizing other people's lives just to make herself look good anymore?"

"No, she has a guard with her to record her movements and behaviour. If she makes another serious mistake like what happened with you again, she would be forced home to be home schooled and kept away from all social events."

"Oh wow… the queen bee being banned from social events, I can imagine that would be rather torturous for her."

"Quite, I can only hope for both hers and her parents' sakes that she reforms, and soon, before she makes another disastrous mistake."

"So do I. I can imagine the type of talk that must've gone around amongst the royal families due to that mistake of hers." I shuddered. "How did her parents deal with it?"

"A lot of people respect Lord and Lady Badica despite them being a part of the branch family rather than the main and they have always known what type of person Marissa was from day one. There have been some gossip in court, but that is to be expected but their reputation is still as strong as ever, especially since they are the only royals so far to have had a conversation with the rumoured prodigy of St. Vlads."

I stared at him blankly for a moment before my mind exploded from shock. "Wait… what?" I spluttered and gaped at him.


	37. Chapter 36

**_~x~ Chapter 36 ~x~_**

"What do you mean by that?" I nearly screamed.

"It is almost impossible to keep someone like you a secret, Kai. It was only a matter of time before talk about you reached the ears of the court."

"But why?" I ran my hands through my hair. "Why would they care?"

"If you were merely a student who excelled in combat, usually it wouldn't stir up this much interest, but you are much more than that, especially after today when talk of how many marks you have received reaches court."

"Again, why does it matter?"

"Because you are the dhampir that was found by chance in the city having had no real training as a guardian-to-be and yet you have taken down more Strigoi than many fully fledged guardians twice your age. Within days you had built up a powerful reputation for yourself here at the Academy, but by now, you have a reputation amongst the royal court, Kai. The number of calls that I've received asking about you has been rising like the tide ever since this morning when you guys got back."

"I'm starting to think that everything I did was a seriously bad idea." I groaned and slapped my forehead. "I just had this massive conversation with Ali -"

"Oh yes, how is he? Has he calmed down now?"

"Yeah, I think we scare each other, Martin. We're the same, but at the same time we're not and we're finally beginning to realise that. I do wonder what our relationship would've been like if I hadn't left. But living by 'what ifs' isn't the best way to go so I stop before I get too far with my thoughts."

"These things are bound to happen, Kai. Even if you hadn't left, there would always be differences. As much as we may all like to, we can't remain kids forever."

"I know what you mean. But Ali did mention something similar to what you just said though. He brought up the topic of the fact that next year, I'd have to be careful because apparently people will be tripping over themselves to get me to be their assigned Guardian after graduation." I smiled sheepishly.

"You only just realised that?"

"I never thought of it that way, Martin. When I was out there, I never had to. I wasn't fighting to impress people, I was fighting to protect those I cared for and it's the same now. There isn't just one person that I want to protect no matter what so I don't know if I want to become an assigned guardian or not. I'd already said this to Brooks today, until I find the person that I want to risk my life for, I don't intend on becoming anyone's guardian."

"That is a fair answer, maybe I'll get you to just stay here and help out with the elementary division. You seem to handle kids really well."

"They are really adorable, I can't help loving them all." I smiled.

"You are so much like your father," he smiled fondly at me and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"I am?" I glanced at him in surprise.

"Yes," he murmured. "Yes, you are."

"It's a little weird you know? Suddenly having people tell me that I resemble my parents, I mean. It's never happened before, especially not six years ago when I used to be so anti-social." I smiled shyly. "It's nice, to know that I really am my parents child. I used to doubt it being the nervous wreck that I was."

"You've always been like them, but when you're only ten, it's harder to tell. You only really start to notice the traits once the child grows up a little more and matures." Martin chuckled. "You shouldn't worry, Kai. You really are so much like them. You may need to be careful here in this Academy. The similarities are really beginning to show through and an observant guardian just might piece things together."

"I've already thought about that." I grinned. "I thought about that on the first day back that I've developed a few traits from my dad's influence."

"So long as you're aware."

"Oh, and by the way, I don't know when Ali intends to see you, but he thinks that I should go home tonight after lights out." I whispered nervously, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt.

There was a small pause before he tilted my head around so that he could look at me. "Are you ready?" Martin watched me carefully with a frown.

"I'm never going to be ready, Martin." I told him honestly. "But I can't just run away forever either. I think I've already done that for long enough, don't you think?"

"I'm glad you ran away back then."

"Oh?" I blinked in surprise. "You know, you're the only person who hasn't just about mowed me down for causing so much trouble back then."

"You were suffering, Kai. You were suffering so much and there was nothing any of us could do to help you. Not to mention, you never would have become who you are if you hadn't left." Martin smiled warmly.

"Now you seem to be saying the same things as Rosette." I smirked up at him. "Speaking of Rosette, how are things?"

"What do you mean?" he frowned though I could see the slight nervousness in his eyes.

"I think you know."

"Kai, I think there are more important things we should talk about."

"I don't think that there is anything more important than the happiness of people dear to me, Martin." I scoffed. "Stop hedging. How are things?"

He stared at me for several moments before giving a defeated sigh and an emotion that I couldn't name flashed across his eyes. Something that was akin to loneliness and grief seemed to settle in his usually stern eyes and he glanced away from me. "Nothing's changed."

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask. It had been six years after all, you'd think that with or without probing, something would've changed at least a little between the two of them. How could nothing have changed especially when most others like Ali and the four royals had changed so much?

He stepped away from the sofa and seemed to pace towards the windows and he merely looked out of them for a while, gazing up at the sky, before he finally spoke with a tone of voice that I'd never heard him use before. It was a tone so full of grief, sadness and loneliness that it made me want to cry, made me want to cry in his place.

"It didn't feel right, little sky. It was bad enough after your parents' death, but when you left, everything seemed to come to a standstill. Alistair changed, but that was to be expected because he was still so young back then, but for the rest of us? We were lost, we couldn't move on and I don't think that any of us particularly wanted to. We wanted to cling onto the hope that if everything was still the same, then it would all just seem like a bad dream and that you would return to us the next day. But of course, you never did, not until now."

"Oh, Martin… I'm so sorry…" I murmured and jumped off of the sofa and hugged him.

"No, it's not your fault. But we couldn't move on. Without you here, I don't think any of us knew how to move on. We simply carried on the way we would, and yet at the same time we were all too afraid to take a step forward. That was the case for Rosette and I."

"Martin, no matter what had happened, you and Rosette deserve happiness." I told him, sensing the train of thought that must have been going through his mind. Knowing the two of them, they must have been thinking that taking everything that had happened into account they didn't deserve to be happy. That what they already had was enough and to hold on to what they knew rather than risk stepping into unfamiliar territory.

He turned around in my arms since I had been hugging him from behind and he cupped my cheeks. He bent down and kissed my forehead tenderly before giving me a smile. "You are a lot more outspoken about your perceptiveness than you used to be, Kai."

"Like we'd already established earlier, it's all thanks to the confidence that I'd developed out there." I grinned up at him cheekily with a wink. "But you do, Martin. I mean it. And not just you and Rosette, but all of you. No matter what had happened, that doesn't mean that you guys are less entitled to being happy. I may have had some of my happiness torn away from me, but I wasn't the only one. My parents' death affected you guys as much as it affected me. I'm not the only who lost something dear back then and I am grateful that not more of my family unit died during that attack. These things happen, unfortunately, that's the kind of life that we live."

"Not only perceptive but wise as well I see," he chuckled. "You really are their child…"

"Yes. Yes I am." I told him proudly. "I couldn't have wished for better parents or family to support me at all. Mum and Dad may be gone physically, but they will forever remain in our hearts and in our memories and that's what's most important of all. Though I suppose if I come into contact with older royals or people who knew my parents well, I'll have to be careful otherwise they just might see the resemblance and work out the truth before I'm ready for the secret to be exposed."

"Speaking of your secret being exposed, well done with how you handled the situation today with Jenson."

"I like him. He seems really different, sort of like an odd mix between Joey and… well me I suppose."

"Oh? And what makes you say that?"

"He's clearly been through his own fair share of unpleasant experiences and yet he's still as chirpy and friendly as Joey is. He's a good guardian and I'm glad that he gets on so well with Joey, I can completely understand why."

"You've barely known the man a week, how have you managed to work out so much about his character?"

"It's in his eyes, Martin. He seems to have the balance worked out perfectly for him between casualness, playfulness, maturity and professionalism. In a way, I can sort of imagine Ali becoming a little like that later on when he's even older." I laughed at the thought.

"You know, I might have to agree with you on that. I'm glad that Jenson decided to transfer here as well. He's been keeping Joseph company as a teacher and those two really do get along well. I think that you chose well in trusting him."

"I don't think he'll betray our trust." I shook my head. "He really seemed to understand why I'm doing this, Martin. I didn't think that anyone else would without some sort of explanation, but he did. He saw, he noticed."

"I know, Kai. After he threw him out of the office, I noticed his chance in attitude reverting back to how he would've behaved towards you before he found out. It can't be easy for him, especially since it's in his nature to follow the hierarchy of the system, but for you, it seems that he's willing to place your feelings first and that is his way of showing his respect towards you as a person and as a royal."

"I noticed that as well. That's why I think that we'll be okay. It won't be easy later on, and we do still need to talk, but I think that it'll be fine."

"Having said that, I think we should keep the exposure of your secret to a minimum. Your escape with the royals out of the Academy into the outside world caused enough of a riot amongst the court, then to find out you actually took down Strigoi and protected another royal caused even more of a chaos. Things will be different enough as it is, I don't think we need to add any more fuel to the fire than you already have."

"I fully intend to lay low for as long as I can." I nodded in agreement. "I don't think I can handle any more commotion than what's going on at the moment. I've probably had enough excitement to last me a life time."

"But more is to come your way if you intend to see the house tonight. We have seriously diverged from that topic, might I add?"

"So we have." I laughed. "I will go to the house, partly because if I don't then Ali will probably find some way to drag me there anyway."

"If you aren't ready, I will tell him to lay off."

"No." I told him firmly. "I think now is as good a time as any to be honest. I'm never going to be ready to go back there, as I've already said earlier so it won't really make that much of a difference whether I go back there tonight or another time."

"I just don't want you to overwork yourself."

"I'm fine. I got a full eight hours' worth of sleep so I'm highly unlikely to random collapse from fatigue."

"Only if you're sure, Kai," he sighed.

"Thank you, for worrying so much, Martin. But I do agree with Ali about this as much as I hate to admit it. He is right in saying that it'll be better for me if I don't delay it for too long and tonight is as good a time as any to go back."

"How are you feeling now that you've been back for a week?"

"To be honest? It's been so hectic that I haven't really dwelled that much on how I'm feeling. I'm just taking each emotion as it comes really. I've been focusing on familiarising with the grounds first and there are moments when I think back to those days when everything was still alright. I would be lying if I didn't have the occasional flashbacks whenever I see a place where I used to train with my parents but it's toned down quite a lot since the first day of being back. It hasn't been nearly as bad as I'd feared it might be."

"So, no more breakdowns since that first night back?"

"No more breakdowns. Well, unless you count the incident with Marissa." I pointed out.

"You should not have had to endure something like that."

"If she knew who my parents really were, she never would've dared. Besides, no one in the world deserves to endure that kind of insult about their parents."

"Her punishment should've been a lot worse than it is."

"I think her social humiliation is punishment enough, Martin. I have to admit though, going onto another topic, I did feel quite odd on Thursday when I went out shopping with the girls."

"Oh? Why was that?"

"I was so used to carrying stakes with me whenever I went out that it felt really weird not to have one anymore…" I admitted sheepishly.

"Kai, I am not giving you back your stakes. Not until you've graduated. It is a rule and not one that I can exempt you from."

"I know." I sighed. "I'm just saying. Oh yeah, before I dash off to dinner, you said that there was something you needed to say to me. What is it?"

"Ah, that's right. I have a message from Lord and Lady Badica about your achievements over the weekend and Lady Drozdov wants to know if there's anything you would like."

"What for?" I blinked in surprise."

"To express her gratitude for saving her life."

"That's my job, Martin." I scoffed.

"I know, but she is one to believe in rewards for those who are worthy of it."

"Well then I'll find her tomorrow and let her know myself that it isn't necessary. I may not have graduated and she may not know who I am, but for all intents and purposes, I am being trained to protect her and other Moroi no matter what the situation was so there's no need for her to reward me. Besides, her healing my wounds and injuries is definitely payment enough." I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, a Moroi and a royal one at that rewarding a novice for saying their life from a Strigoi… just what on earth is going on with the world? When did they start getting so nice?"

"They've always been there, Kai," he chuckled. "You just never met them before, that's all."

"That's what I don't get, if they're so nice then why haven't I met them before? Surely it would be the nice ones who were close to Mum and Dad?"

"I think that you may have met Lady Drozdov a couple of times but only when you were really young. She was in Russia and England for a while before coming back here to teach about four years ago. "

"Well, that certainly makes more sense." I huffed.

I let go of Martin as he stepped over to his desk and took out a folded piece of paper. He gave me a small smile and watched me expectantly. "You want me to read it now, don't you?" I arched my brows at him.

"I've read it already. They'd sent an email so that it would get to you fastest and when I printed it out I skimmed the letter."

"That's a bad habit, you nosy guardian." I glared playfully at him.

I unfolded the piece of paper and the first words that seemed to leap out at me were the words: Congratulations for your _molnija_ marks.

I hastily read the letter and I felt my face heat up in embarrassment at the compliments the lovely couple had given me. Then at the bottom of the letter, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach and I glanced up to stare at Martin in utter shock.

"What?!" I screamed at him with wide eyes. "What is this?"

"I would've thought that it would be obvious that it's an informal invitation, Kai," he smirked at me at my fluster.

"But… what… why?" I stammered. "Oh my god, they're going to kill me for placing their beloved children at risk. What am I going to do, Martin?!"

"Kai, relax, breathe," he laughed.

"I'm in so much trouble, Martin? What do I do?!"

"Kai!" he shouted at me and clapped his hands together in front of my face to snap me back to the real world.

"What?"

"Just relax. They wanted to meet you in person. They've heard a lot about you and they just want to know what you're like. They are very curious people, Kai, so just humour them."

"You're telling me to go to dinner with four of the royal families, Martin! How do you expect me to relax?!"

"You have plenty of time to calm your nerves and relax. I think the first thing to do is to calm down, and to write a respectful reply, thanking them for the invitation and that you accept."

"Martin!"

"You will go, Kai. There is no reason for you to refuse them nor would it be wise."

"But… but…"

"No buts, Kai. What happened to your fearless attitude?"

"Fights is one thing, formal dinners is another!"

"Then just get the four royals at the school to help you. They have been banned from training, no? Just ask them what might happen at the dinner and get them to run you through it."

"How are you so calm about this?"

"How are you freaking out about this?"

"This is a perfectly legitimate reaction." I threw my hands up indignantly. "You are no help."

"You will be fine, Kai. Remember how easily you charmed Lord and Lady Badica? Just remember to be yourself and everything will be fine. Besides, you won't be alone with them, the four royals themselves will be there as well."

"Will Trace be there?"

"Trace? Ah yes, I'm not sure."

"I'll ask Jacks and Quinn at dinner if they're there. See you around, Martin. I'd better get to dinner otherwise there'll be no food left!"

"Try and stay out of trouble for the rest of today at least, Kai."

"I'll do my best." I winked before dashing out of the office and tucking the letter into one of my many pockets.

As I was making my way to the dining hall, I frowned when I heard some low but rather angry shouts near the edge of the woods and being the nosy person that I was, I couldn't resist going off to find out what was going on.

I passed by the senior obstacle course and soon I found a dhampir I recognised surrounded by a couple of Moroi and dhampirs. For a moment, I thought that nothing was wrong and that they were just having a friendly fight, but then I took a better look at the surrounded dhampir's expression and it was anything but friendly. In fact, it was downright hostile and furious.

"Just how long are you going to hang around us, you faggot. Hasn't Nick gotten sick of you yet? Or maybe he lets you jack him off whenever he can't get a girl, especially now that Marissa's gone," one of the Moroi sneered as he sent a nasty look at the dhampir.

"I'll bet that Nick's suffering now from withdrawal without Marissa opening her legs wide open for him every day and offering him release."

"You don't have any right to talk about either of them like that!" Christian shouted furiously.

"Don't we? The way I see it, Marissa's gone and her reputation is in the gutter for the world to know and Nick? Well, pretty boy isn't doing any better either. The four royals never cared much for him but now he's angered them, he has no chance of getting back onto the table," the Moroi laughed nastily. "Say, I've always been curious. Does he let you take him with your mouth?"

Christian flushed several shades of red, none of it was due to embarrassment and I could see from the way that he was clenching his fists that he was doing everything he could not to throttle the Moroi. Remembering my fight with him during the weird game from a few days ago during training, I knew that Christian definitely wasn't bad at fighting and he would most likely get a few hits in before the dhampirs held him back.

"No words to say? Well then, I guess he does. Boys, hold him, I'd like to see just what's so special about him that Nick puts up with this freak," the Moroi smiled.

Christian managed to get a few hits against the three dhampirs who suddenly lurched towards him and he managed to knock one of them out but the other two latched onto his arms and legs and forced him onto his knees. I watched in horror and disgust as the Moroi I didn't recognise began to reach to the belt of his trousers and knew that if I didn't step in, Christian was about to be subdued to a mind scarring experience.


	38. Chapter 37

**_~x~ Chapter 37 ~x~_**

"You know, guys, four against one really isn't terribly fair." I called out casually as I stepped out of the shadows and approached them.

All four sets of eyes immediately landed on me and the Moroi smiled lustfully at me. His bright green eyes seemed to shine in the slightly darkness in the shadow of the trees and I had a sneaking suspicion that he might have been trying to charm me but it wasn't working one bit. I simply brushed his lustful smile aside. It wasn't anything I hadn't seen directed at me before, especially since I worked at a club for the past two years and this guy's smile was nothing like the intense one that Eric was capable of giving.

I stepped up to the passed out dhampir and crouched down to have a good look at him. I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and poked his face a few times. He was out for the count good and proper and I grinned up at Christian. "You knocked him out good." I commented.

"He was asking for it," he scoffed. There was confusion in his eyes, as though he was asking me what I was doing here and what I was up to.

"So I saw." I shrugged and dropped him.

"What can we do for Eric's little lady?" the Moroi asked with a voice that tried to demand for my attention and I just ignored him for the moment.

I stared at the two dhampirs and tilted my head at them. Neither of them was in my year, so that explained why I didn't know their names, but I did vaguely recognise their faces. They were always sitting on the centre jock table with the jerk trying to get my attention and they were also there earlier today at the training session with the seniors.

"Were you two involved in the game of ghost earlier at lunch?" I asked curiously.

"No, we didn't have the time since Jenson sent us off for laps. Wait, how did you know about the game?" one of them blinked in surprise at me.

"I was the flag." I shrugged nonchalantly. "I didn't realise they taught dhampirs to gang up on a fellow trainee at this school. And to think I was beginning to see this place in a new light."

"They don't teach us to gang up on others," the other one told me flatly.

"Then what are you doing now?" I arched my brows at the pair of them holding onto Christian and they just stared at me, knowing that I'd caught them out. "The way I see it, you guys have two options. You can either let him go now, walk away and I'll pretend that I didn't come by here. Or, you can get your asses kicked and the guardians will hear about an unjustified fight that was entirely your fault. Which one would you guys rather?"

"Just you wait a second there. Just because you've got some tattoos doesn't mean that you can start acting all high and mighty, Kylie," the Moroi cut in and hauled me up by the shoulder forcefully so that I finally face him and acknowledged his presence.

"And just because you're a Moroi doesn't mean that you can just abuse a dhampir anyway you like." I narrowed my eyes at him dangerously. "Now either get your filthy hand off me or you won't like the consequences."

The bastard actually had the nerve to grab my chin and tilt my head up so that he could get a better look at me. "I can see why Eric was so quick to jump the bone. You really are a hot one."

"Let go of me, idiot. You don't want this."

"Oh, I think I do, little Kylie," he smirked and hooked an arm around my waist to press my body flush against his. I felt something hard press against my stomach and disgust coiled through me.

"Are you guys seeing this?" I turned to the three dhampirs who were watching warily. Christian looked like he wanted to break free and step in. The other two looked like they were having an internal debate. They looked like they felt they should step in but didn't know if it was worth the risk.

"You should just stop talking, Kylie. It's ruining the mood," the Moroi muttered and his head dipped down. I turned my head away so that instead of kissing my lips he was kissing my neck.

"Well then, I think this is plenty of proof for our lovely eye witnesses." I smirked. "You guys were watching, this is now legitimate self-defence." I stated before promptly decking the Moroi onto his sorry ass and I pressed my foot against his chest and pushed him down as he glared indignantly up at me, trying to push me off. "Now, now. I did give you two warnings."

"You're the one who invited me, you little slut!"

"Did I do that?" I pondered aloud. I turned to the three dhampirs with an inquisitive expression. "Did I?"

"Of course you didn't, you idiot!" Christian snapped at me, wondering what I was doing and finally losing his nerve.

"You didn't push me off!" the Moroi protested.

"Maybe I was just too caught up by the shock of being touched by a nasty Moroi." I told him bluntly. "It's your own fault for trying compulsion on me."

"Compulsion…" one of the dhampirs whose name I didn't know whispered.

"Jayce, seriously man, what the hell are you trying to do? Get us kicked out of school?" the other one glared and let go of Christian instantly.

"Jayce? So that's your name." I smirked down at him. "So, what's it going to be, guys? Are you going to be good and leave or do I need to tell the guardians?"

"We're leaving," the two of them replied without a moment's thought and left without looking back once.

I removed my foot from the Moroi and pulled him up by the scruff of the neck. "I don't know what you were trying to do, but you better get lost and don't let me catch you again."

"You're going to regret this, Kylie," he snarled at me before leaving. I had to hand it to him, he wasn't running so he clearly still clung to whatever bit of dignity he had left. I simply gave a scowl at his retreating figure and rolled my shoulders and neck before turning around to face Christian and the unconscious dhampir.

"So, what do we do about the passed out guy here?" I asked casually, gesturing at the dhampir.

"I say we leave him. I doubt he'd be stupid enough to report this to a teacher since he'd have to make up a story to go with why he was knocked out so easily by a novice younger than him." Christian shrugged, staring at me with wary eyes. He was most likely wondering when I was going to freak out or something.

"What?"

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough."

"And what does that mean?" he snapped.

"You've got one heck of a good control of your temper. If I'd been in your shoes, I would've thrashed all of them until they could barely walk and talk." I told him simply before glancing at my watch. "Have you had dinner yet?"

"What?"

"Have you had dinner yet?"

"No, those guys caught me before I could go."

"Then let's go to the cooking room. I doubt there'd be enough decent food left at the dining hall now." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Before he could protest, I simply took his hand and dragged him along with me.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking you to dinner. You're a guardian in training and you obviously train yourself hard if the skill I saw last time was anything to go by and to keep up with that kind of training, you need energy and therefore you need to eat properly."

"Then why not just go to the dining hall?"

"You really want to go there with your clothes all rumpled and mud patches on your knees? It's obvious that things are said about you anyway so why give them more gossip to play with when all it does is cause uncalled for trouble?" I arched my brows at him as I glanced over my shoulder. He simply gave me a surprised and baffled look before looking away from me.

We didn't bump into anyone for the rest of the way to the home economics classroom and I smiled when I found the ingredients in the fridge. A dish instantly came to mind and I took out everything that I would need.

"How hungry are you and how much can you eat?"

"A fair amount."

"That doesn't mean anything to me."

"I usually have seconds."

"Good." I smiled at him before getting some chicken out as well. "Why don't you clean yourself up a little bit while I cook?" I suggested, pointing at the other taps in the classroom.

For a while, as I was cooking and preparing, neither of us said anything. He cleaned the mud from his hands and wiped away the mud from his trousers as best as he could. I got annoyed watching him try and gave a sigh when I realised that he was being a complete fool. I found a wash cloth and made sure it was damp before handing it to him. "It would be a lot easier if you just took your trousers off and wiped the mud off that way. The way you're doing it you're just pressing the mud deeper into the fabric."

"Take my trousers off?"

"Does it matter?" I arched my brows at him. "It doesn't matter to me so do whatever makes you feel comfortable, Christian."

I turned around again and resumed cooking and didn't look at him again until he was ready to speak. In fact, we spent the majority of the time eating in silence. Although I didn't particularly enjoy silences, I knew that he needed his time to think. Having someone catch him in that kind of a situation isn't good for anyone and the conversation that often follows that kind of event was usually not very pretty. I'd seen that kind of situation a lot back in the human school, especially about Tyce, so I was pretty used to it by now but Christian didn't know that. He had no idea what I was like and what my opinion was about people with different sexual preferences.

I did however catch him sneaking amused glances at my plate since there was so much food on it. No doubt he didn't think that a girl was capable of eating so much so it seemed that it was something that lightened the mood a little. When I was half way through the gratin dauphinois and grilled chicken with creamy mushroom sauce, he seemed to have gathered his thoughts enough to talk.

"You're a lot weirder than I'd thought," he commented.

"Is that something you say to someone who just helped kick butt for you?"

"The weirdest part is why you would step in like that. It's not going to get you any favours, you know?"

"Like I need favours. If anything, I'd rather I didn't have any at this school. Jenson asking me to help out with the senior training was bad enough."

"How did you know what was happening?"

"I heard something."

"How? We weren't exactly close to the school. The coward made sure of that when he cornered me in the woods."

"Why were you in the woods?" I tilted my head to the side.

He stared at me for a moment with an expression that told me that he didn't really consider telling me the answer. But then he sighed and I was surprised when he did. "Like you said earlier, I put in extra training to be better than everyone else. Well, apparently everyone else apart from you and the four royals. I can normally beat Dan so long as he doesn't use the elements and I can put up a decent fight against the twins but I've never won against Drew. And now you've gotten on my list of unbeatable people."

"I'm honoured." I grinned proudly.

"How are you so good?"

"I've been training since I was born and I invested in learning every type of fighting style there is out there. I've mixed some styles together and usually I just go by instinct. I'm so used to fighting by now that my body just moves without me having to actually think too hard about it."

"Sometimes, that's the best way. Overthinking in a fight is never a good thing since it would delay reaction time."

"You're not a mathematician who likes to calculate these types of things are you?" I stared at him in horror and he laughed.

"No, and I thought you were a prodigy. You don't like maths?"

"Being a prodigy has nothing to do with it. I hate it with an absolute passion. I don't see the point in it and I doubt that I ever will. I don't like anything scientific either unless it involves explosions or bizarre chemical reactions."

"Are the rumours true by the way? Did you really break out of here just to help your soccer team?"

"You make it sound like it wasn't something worth doing." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I just don't think that it's worth getting yourself in trouble for. Breaking out of the school can't have been easy so why the effort? Why not just focus on what you have here rather than the outside world? I heard that you were invited to Eric's party as well, why miss it."

"Look, my team is my family. It's not in my morals to abandon my family, especially not when we'd been working towards that championship finals for so long." I told him bluntly. "Would you abandon Nick if he was in trouble just because you were transferred to another school? Would you forget and leave behind everything here if you were ever transferred somewhere else?"

"Of course not."

"Then don't ask stupid questions. I may have left my old life, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have any significance in my life anymore. It doesn't work that way, not with me. Those people were and always will be important to me and if they are in trouble and need my help, I won't hesitate to help them in any way I can."

"Sorry, I've offended you, haven't I?"

"Just a little." I admitted with a curt nod.

"You're a very loyal person."

"As are you if you hang around a jerk like O'Connor. I won't ask why because it's not really any of my business. You must have your reasons for staying beside him and I'm pretty sure that he's capable of not being a total pinhead. What I do care for is your sense of loyalty. I admire that."

"Thank you, Kylie. Can I call you that?"

"Of course, we're in the same class after all." I blinked in surprise at his formality towards me. "You're not one of those old fashioned type of guys, are you?"

"Sometimes," he smiled.

"Well, considering how you tried to handcuff me during out first training together, I have to say, I'm shocked."

He seemed to blush at that and stared indignantly at me. "That was so that you couldn't get away!" he protested.

"I know, I was only teasing." I grinned at him. "So, what do you do for extra training?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? After all, you are the one who thrashed me."

"Well, if you tell me what you do, I can tell you what you're missing in your training routine."

"Mostly, I run, but I also train with the sandbags quite a lot and I do chin ups in the woods."

"You don't have a partner to train with?"

"Not really. The guys don't usually want to be around me on their own," he told me honestly.

"Well, that's obviously one of the things you're missing out on." I rolled my eyes. "There must be someone besides Nick who doesn't discriminate against you."

"If there are, I don't know them. Why did you help me? Why didn't you just walk away and pretend you didn't see anything like everyone else does?"

"Because that's not the way I roll. Unless I knew that the person could handle themselves, I won't walk away. It'd stay on my conscience for the rest of my life if I did that." I told him seriously. "This school isn't that different to the school I used to go to out there. All the social things are still the same it seems."

"You've seen this kind of situation before?" he frowned.

"One of my best friends is gay." I shrugged nonchalantly. "Personally, I don't care. People's sexual preferences are their own business and it's not for anyone else to determine for them. Just because you're gay doesn't make you any different. It's not like you go around jumping every hot guy in sight."

"How do you know I don't?"

"I'm very good at reading people. You remind me a lot of my friend Tyce."

"Is that why you're helping me? Because I remind of your friends in the outside world?" he narrowed his eyes warily at me.

"Look." I told him with an exasperated voice that was close to annoyed. "I'm not using you as a replacement for my friends from the outside world so you better get that thought out of your mind right now before I decide to throw you out of the window."

"I'm not doing very well, am I?" he asked apologetically.

"No, you're not. But considering how discriminated against you seem to be, I can't say that I'm surprised. But if you're too cautious towards everyone who tries to become friends with you, it's no surprise that people think that there's something going on between you and O'Connor even if there isn't."

"You… you're trying to be friends with me?"

"Oh my god I've been talking to a block head." I grumbled in frustration.

"You're not disgusted or repulsed by me?"

"For a good fighter, you're stupendously lacking in self-confidence, aren't you?" I glared at him. "If I was repulsed by you, I would never have stepped in to help you in the first and would've run for the hills. Seriously, if you don't start being smart and less wary, I'm going to start hitting you until sense gets knocked in."

He just stared at me for a few moments before he suddenly burst out laughing. I just stared at him as though he'd lost him mind and carried on eating. "You really are one of a kind, aren't you? I've never had someone say that to me before. Well, except for Nick anyway."

"O'Connor said something like that to you?" I blinked in surprise. "No way."

"He wasn't always the way he is."

At the back of my mind, I found myself disagreeing profusely. Yes he really was. Even when I was a kid back then, Nick O'Connor was always the one to pick on me even though everyone else left me alone.

"He just has an incredibly odd way of showing that he cares." Christian added.

"I'll take your word for it, but that doesn't mean that I'm changing my opinion of him anytime soon. What he's said about my friends is way out of line."

"I'll agree with you on that. He doesn't usually think with his upstairs brain."

"So I've seen."

"But I promise you, he really isn't as bad as he makes himself up to be."

"Until he starts getting his act together and stops insulting my friends, I'm not changing my opinion of him."

"That's fair enough. Even as his friend, I have to admit that the cold shoulder you've been giving him is entirely his fault right from the start."

"Damn right."

"You're really good at cooking, Kylie."

"Thank you." I smiled. "I've been doing my own cooking for a while now."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"I'm an orphan."

"I'm sorry," he told me.

"It's alright, it happened a while ago." I lied.

Of course, it wasn't alright, and I'd probably never stop mourning about their death but since being back at the academy, I hadn't been as depressed as I used to be. I was slowly moving forward and accepting the fact that they were gone and never going to be back.

"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't I train with you? I'm on elementary division duty for my break out but I'll be able to put in an hour or so sometimes when you're free?"

"You'd do that?"

"Sure, why not? It gives me another sparring partner anyway." I shrugged. "It's your choice."

"To think I'd get the school's newest prodigy as a tutor. Who'd have thought?"

"If you call me that, I'll kick you out of the window." I threatened him.

"Warning heeded," he laughed. "But I'll be taking you away from your friends, won't I?"

"Hey, I offered, you let me worry about that. Besides, we see a lot of each other anyway so it's fine. We're on the same floor after all."

"Then I'll have to take you up on your offer. It'll be cool to see what you know."

"Just be prepared to get your ass whooped again, that's all I'm saying." I smirked. "Oh shit! Is that the time? I'm meant to be at the elementary division right now!"

"You go, I'll wash up." Christian laughed at me at my fluster and I stared at him as though he was my saviour.

I hastily shoved whatever was left on my plate and nearly choked in the process. "Thank you!" I told him before running out of the room and sprinting for the elementary buildings.


	39. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

"Kylie? Whoa, Kylie, why the rush?" Eric caught her wrist as she dashed past him.

She skidded to a halt because he was holding onto her and she turned to face him with a casual smile. "Hey, Eric. I'm heading over to the elementary division."

"Oh? Why?"

"I'm on duty over there to help out because of my break out."

"Well that's certainly a shame, I was thinking that the two of us could hang out."

"Sorry, but a punishment's a punishment."

"I didn't think that you were a good girl."

"I'm not, usually, but I like the kids there so I'm not going to skip out on it."

"Is there no way I could convince you to just leave the duty be?"

"Not a chance, Eric." I shook my head and made sure that I avoided making direct eye contact with him. After the conversation I had with Drew, even I knew to keep my guard up around this Moroi regardless of our agreement earlier today.

"Then what about later?"

"Sorry, I have plans with the girls for tonight." I shook my head.

"Are you trying to avoid me, Kylie?" he asked and I was fairly sure that there was a hint of amusement and also irritation in his tones.

"Not at all, do you usually demand spending so much time together with a girl you're seeing right from the start?" I retorted with a similar tone of voice. I didn't know whether he was trying to dominate my life on purpose or whether he was doing it subconsciously because it was in his nature but I sure as hell didn't like it regardless of the reason. I didn't particularly like the way he kissed me in front of everyone after the tattoo ceremony but that was relatively understandable since he wanted to let everyone know that there was something going on between us.

"Is there anything wrong with that? I just enjoy spending time with people I like."

"No, there's nothing wrong with that, but you can't talk me out of going to the elementary division either." I told him simply. "Could you let me go so that I won't be later than I already am?"

"In a moment," he whispered and before I knew it he was kissing me.

I gasped as he drew my body close and I could feel every inch of him pressing into me and I could tell that he was aroused as well. He pressed me up against the wall and slipped his leg between mine so that there was no space between us at all. Wincing as I felt a fang cut my bottom lip, I pressed against his chest to let him know that I really didn't like the idea of sharing my blood and he pulled away slightly. I saw the blood that was on his lips and my eyes followed the movement of his tongue as he took a taste of my blood.

Something flashed through his eyes. I didn't know what the emotion was but deep down my instincts were telling me that whatever it was wasn't something good. Before I could say anything, he moulded his lips over mine once more and he sucked on my lower lip to get whatever blood he could from the small wound. His hands held my hips firmly and so tightly that I thought bruises were going to form. He pressed so firmly against me that I was having difficulty with breathing and when I thought I was going to suffocate I shoved against his shoulders and pushed him away.

"Stop…" I gasped as I tried to gather my wits.

"Embrace it, Kylie. Embrace the feelings that my touch can offer you," he told me with a low, husky voice.

I wanted to snap back telling him that right now whatever emotion he caused to rise up in me, it wasn't anything pleasurable but I couldn't quite find the voice to say it. I simply caught my breath and turned away from him. I felt him shift towards me again and I held my hand up.

"No." I told him with a shaky voice. God what the heck was wrong with me? Why was I so out of breath and so affected by a simply kiss? Granted it was a kiss that involved blood but it was just a kiss. There was nothing more than that, so why was I so damn shaken?

"Kylie, stay with me."

"No." I repeated with a firmer tone this time.

Before giving him any time to speak again I ran off as fast as I could but no matter how fast I tried to get away from him, I could still feel his piercing gaze on my back. It was as though he was trying to call me back to him with a mere gaze. I shook off the feeling as I neared the guardian on duty at the entrance today and I gave him a small smile as I passed.

Soon enough, I found Ali and he smiled as soon as he saw me.

"Calmed down completely now?" I teased as I neared him.

"As calm as I can be with you around," he joked. "So, you've spoken to Martin."

"How'd you know?"

"I got a call from him pestering me not to pressure you too much into things."

"I did tell him that I agreed with you and that you did give me the choice to say no." I sighed.

"You know how that man is. Over protective as ever only he's the more silent type about it."

"Well then, I guess that's one thing you two share in common."

"Hey, I'm nothing like him in that respect."

I thought about it for a moment and realised that he was right. "You're right." I agreed. "You're a whole lot worse."

"Hey!"

"Kylie!" a bubbly voice shouted and a small body crashed into me.

I grunted from the force of the crash and picked the small kid up into my arms. "Hey, little Trace."

"How is your wound?" he asked worriedly.

"Basically as good as new," I told him reassuringly and kissed his forehead. "Have you been nice and good for the guardians?"

"I've been a good boy, just as I'd promised."

I gave a pleased smile and ruffled his hair. "Then here's a treat from me." I held up a piece of wrapped chocolate. The young boy beamed up at me and his eyes gleamed with delight.

"Kylie, you're the best!"

"Aw, Kai, you're stealing the kids away from me?" Ali complained playfully.

"Just this little one," I teased. "I seem to have developed an attachment to Trace."

"Just don't go kidnapping him."

I laughed and held Trace a little closer. "I wouldn't dream of it."

For the next couple of hours, up until the kids' bedtime, I joined in with their games and even got involved in a beanbag fight. When it was time for bed, Trace insisted that I tucked him in like last time. As I glanced down at him, I began to wonder if this was what having a little brother was like. My thoughts drifted back to earlier that afternoon and I wondered again why the relationship between the Dragomir brothers seemed so bad. What could have happened to have caused such a rift? The twins, though a little devilish, were perfectly nice guys and Trace was an adorable kid. There didn't seem to be any reason why they didn't get along.

Ali had to finish his shift at the elementary dorm before beginning his patrol so we agreed to meet St. Vlad's statue in an hour. Thanks to our little escapade into the outside world, the girl's hadn't had the time to do their homework so we were all supposed to be gathering in Els' room to work on what we were behind on. I'd have to find some kind of an excuse to leave early. Maybe I could feign being tired and pretend to head to bed early.

When I got back to my room, I found a note taped to my door asking me to head to Els' room as soon as I got back. I yanked the note off and headed inside to gather my stuff before headed across the hall and knocking on the door of the room opposite mine. The door opened a moment later and I came face to face with a teary Ingrid.

"Kai!" she cried and wrapped her arms around me. "Save me!"

"Eh? What? What's going on?" I asked frantically, wondering what was wrong.

"I can't take it anymore! The equations are driving me crazy!"

I tugged Ingrid with me as I walked into the room and found that the two beds had been pushed together and there were books scattered all over. Roxy and Els had books on their laps and glanced up to give me a smile. "You're starting with maths? That's a stupid thing to do. You should start with something easy to get you going before diving into something infuriating."

"Come on, Ingrid, it's not that bad." Els commented, rolling her eyes at the girl.

"I can't understand it. You're a genius so you don't understand what it's like for those of us who can't comprehend that kind of thing. There are far too many numbers."

"You're a maths genius?" I arched my brows at Els as I dropped my stuff on an empty spot on the bed. "I am so copying your work."

"So there _is_ something you're not good at!" Roxy pointed at me with a victorious smirk.

I scoffed at her comment and took a glance at what question they were on. "There are a lot of things I'm not good at. Budge over, Roxy, otherwise I'm going to fall off the bed."

She shuffled over and Ingrid took her place around the circle. "Els, please explain it to me in simpleton terms."

"Wait, before we continue," Roxy cut in, "Where were you at dinner, Kai? I didn't think you were the type to be able to miss a meal."

I glanced at the three of them and gave a shrug. "I didn't miss it. I was on my way there to find you guys when I crashed into Christian."

Els blinked in surprise and frowned. "Christian Chance? The one who always hangs around Nick?"

I nodded. "That one."

"What happened? Just bumping into him wouldn't distract you from dinner."

"He was being ambushed by a few seniors so I just helped him out a little. It was late so I decided to head to the home economics classroom instead to make something."

"Ambushed?"

I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should say anything. It wasn't really in my place to talk about it since I didn't really know Christian all that well but I knew that the three girls wouldn't say anything unnecessary to anyone else if I asked them not to. The three waited patiently as I thought about it and they all had a serious expression on their face.

"He was cornered because the seniors decided to bully him for being gay, wasn't he?" Roxy asked.

I was surprised that she knew. Christian really didn't seem like the type who flaunted his sexual preferences, even if he didn't hide them so I didn't think that other people knew about it. Not that I had anything against him being gay, it was his decision after all, but I never would've guessed that he preferred guys over girls.

"You know?" I tilted my head to the side in surprise.

Roxy sighed and put her pen down. "Pretty much everyone knows. At least half the school knows that the seniors love to pick on him for that."

"How long has the bullying been going on for?" I frowned, wondering why it hasn't been stopped by now if so many people know about it.

"About a year or so."

"With the exception of transferring the bullies out of the school, there's nothing anyone could do to stop it. There will always be at least one homophobe in a school as big as this."

"That doesn't mean they should just let it continue!" I scowled, furious at the fact that it'd gone on for so long. "If I hadn't stepped in, he would've been horribly abused! He's a perfectly nice guy. He shouldn't have to go through that sort of thing."

"He's a nice guy? When have you had the chance to talk to him for long enough to know that?" Ingrid asked curiously.

"Over dinner," I told them simply. "I made us dinner and talked it out since I was curious about the situation that I'd stepped into."

"What happened?"

"I'm not saying, but it was bad." I grumbled at the memory of what had almost happened to him. "Anyway, for a usually cheerful guy like him, I wouldn't have thought that he was going through that kind of thing."

"Nick keeps him safe, I think. If I remember rightly, that was the reason why the two became good friends."

I stared at them in shock at what I'd just heard. There was no way, absolutely no way that the bully I remembered defended someone else! "O'Connor defended Christian?"

"Yeah, I think so." Roxy nodded, in thought.

"That's kind of surprising considering how much of a jerk he's been so far…" I trailed off lamely.

Els gave a small smile and shook her head. "He isn't always like that. Even that guy has his moments of being nice to people."

"I'll take your word for it. So, maths, huh?" I commented, trying to bring out attention to the work we had to do rather than about Christian's situation.

Ingrid moaned and ran her hands through her hair. "Save me!"

I grinned at Els, giving her an expectant stare and opened my books. "Els, take the stage."

For the next hour, the four of us struggled through our work and when the time came, I made up an excuse to head back to my room early. After dumping my books on my desk, I looked out of the window and looked for a safe way to get out. I grabbed a pair of gloves and put them on before opening my window and jumping out. Hands outstretched, I clung onto a thick branch and using that as leverage I dropped down onto a lower branch and continued until I landed on the floor. I made a mental note to ask someone for a long rope or something that I could hang from my room so that it'd be easier next time I snuck out before lights out.

I headed to the statue and waited patiently for Ali to arrive.

As I waited, I began to feel the morning chill and wondered if it might have been better if I'd remembered to bring a jumper with me. I jumped and whirled around on instinct with a fist when I felt something drape over my shoulder. Just short of smacking my fist into his face, I managed to stop myself and glanced up at him sheepishly.

"My bad… habit of mine." I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Don't worry about it, I get it." Ali bent down and picked up the jacket that had slipped off my shoulders. "So this was how you used to survive out there, by being one edge all the time."

"Not all the time. I did know how to chill you know."

"Just joking." He ruffled my hair before draping the coat around my shoulders again. "You look a little cold."

"I should've worn a jumper." I admitted and tugged the jacket on properly instead of letting it drape over my shoulders.

"Sorry I'm a little late. One of the kids woke up and wouldn't stop crying so I had to stay with her until she fell back to sleep."

I smiled up at him "That's alright. I figured that it might've been something like that. Is the kid alright now?"

"Yeah, she fell back to sleep after I read a storybook to her for about ten minutes. Successful escape?"

I arched my brows at him at the stupidity of his question. "Who'd you take me for? I was taught by the best."

Ali chuckled and ruffled my hair again. "Well, let's hope that Martin's job will run smoothly now that you're back."

"I think things will be lively enough without any pranks being played." I scoffed. "Let's get this over with. The longer I wait, the worse my reaction's going to be."

"I'll be by your side no matter what happens, Kai. The one thing I won't let you do is let you run away."

"I know, Alster." I sighed.

At first, we just walked side by side in silence, but as we got closer and closer to the home that I could still remember so well, my heart began to quicken and my hands felt clammy from anxiety. I jumped when his hand grasped mine in a firm and comforting manner. We didn't look at each other, didn't say anything, but simply carried on walking. No words needed to be shared. Being Ali, he would know how I was feeling. Despite how much we'd both changed, it seemed that there were still some things that remained the same and I was immensely grateful for that.

Birds chirped all around us through the woods and their music echoed in our silence. I smiled wryly, finding it a little strange that I was awake so early and yet at the same time so late. Following the human schedule, this would be considered incredibly early, but according to the vampire time table, this was incredibly late. I was thankful that my body adapted to the change of routine so quickly, otherwise I would've crashed out by now.

As soon as I saw the house, I froze and my brain ceased to function. My body hit fight or flight mode and seemed to choose flight. I turned on my heel, fully intending to run away from the small clearing surrounding my old childhood home, when Ali yanked me back to his side and wrapped his arms around me, preventing me from being able to run away. I'd forgotten that we were still holding hands. For several moments, I simply stood there in his arms, completely immobile.

"Kai," he whispered with a steely voice. "Face it. Confront it. Don't let it consume you forever."

"Ali… I don't think I can do this…" I choked out, suddenly finding my throat dry.

"You can, Kai. You can," Ali reassured me. "You've told me already a million times. You're much stronger than you used to be. It's time you believed in your own words."

"I hate you for doing this to me, Ali."

"You can hate me all you want and beat me as much as you need to, later. But first, you've got to do this. You've had your chances to say no, it's too late now."

"It's not too late, it's never too late." I murmured lyrically.

Ali stiffened before he gave a somewhat dark but amused chuckle. "Don't you go throwing song lyrics at me, Kalster. It's not going to work."

"A girl's gotta try, right?" I retorted with a snigger.

"I could easily throw you over my shoulder and carry you into the house, if you'd prefer."

"Ali, that's the most humiliating thing anyone has ever said to me!" I squealed and pulled away so that I could hit him. "Seriously, throw me over your shoulder? That's just mean."

"Whatever works, and clearly my suggestion worked." He smirked at me and I realised that he was right. His offhanded comment snapped me out of my frozen and stunned state and I was thinking relatively rational thoughts again.

"You've gotten smarter." I teased him.

"Now, now, no insulting your elders."

"Sure thing, old man." I saluted him in mock seriousness, earning me a light shove in the shoulder.

I let out a heavy breath and my expression became somber once more. I turned to face the house and prepared myself as best as I could for what was to come.


	40. Chapter 39

**_~x~ Chapter 39 ~x~_**

The house looked just as I had remembered it. Calling it a house wasn't quite right. It was more of a cottage than anything else. Faded red bricks; dark tiled roof; white framed windows; bright yellow door that looked as out of place as ever; and the white picket fence made up the home that I remembered.

Leaning closer to the fence, I could still make out the scribbles that I'd etched onto the painted wood as a child to make my mark on the place. The wooden post that I used to train with still stood proudly just past the fence. I could still see the parts of the post that lost a little of its shape because I had hit it so many times. Then there were the monkey bars. Now those were pure evil. I remembered falling and injuring myself so many times. This irritating contraption sent me to Rosette far more times than anything else did because every time I fell, I always managed to land on something at an odd angle.

A smile spread across my face when my eyes landed on the wood stump we used to use to chop wood. It was a weekly event for my father and I. We would spend at least an hour chopping wood and it helped develop my upper body strength, stance and sense of balance. There was a strange art to wood chopping and I made a mental note to try it again some time to revive that old habit. I remember it being one of the most therapeutic and stress relieving things I ever did. It was almost damage free and certainly left no bruises on my body.

Ali simply watched as I slowly relived the life I had six years ago. Disregarding the earlier panic I had, I was surprisingly calmer than I'd thought I would be. The memories weren't nearly as fear inducing as I'd anticipated and it was certainly nice to be able to recall my parents and my old life without falling into some kind of a fit. I mustered all the courage and emotional strength I had within me and headed for the front door. I paused, hand enclosed around the round door handle.

_Could I really do this? Was I ready for this?_ I thought fearfully.

I jumped with I felt warmth on my lower back and tilting my head up and to the side, I saw Ali smiling reassuringly at me.

_Yes… I can get through it if he's with me._

I let out a deep breath and turned the handle before swinging the door wide open. The first thing I struck me was the scent of air freshener and cleaning detergents. They weren't kidding when they told me that once in a while they would come in and clean dust the place.

Then the pictures followed. My parents loved taking pictures almost above all else and there were pictures everywhere. Pictures of us three together, pictures of our strange family unit, pictures of Rosette and Martin caught in a couple-like situation, pictures of Ali and I messing around as little kids, pictures of me, pictures of my parents, there were pictures scattered all over the walls. That was our wallpaper, the memories that we'd build up together in those ten years since I was born and my parents decided to build the cottage here in the academy where they'd met and fell in love.

I grinned when I remembered the story of how my parents met. Mum was a star pupil as a guardian with the most promising prospects. Dad was a well-known charmer at Court and was pretty much irresistible. He didn't used to attend St. Vlads. Apparently he was originally in Russia but had decided that he wanted to be in the States instead because of the rumours of how amazing Mum was. In other words, Dad was the boy who flew across the world to stalk her. Mum wasn't impressed with his charming antics at first, but over the years up until graduation, she was charmed by his sincerity and discovered that he wasn't just a playboy and charmer, that he was more serious at heart.

I never did find out how the two became a spirit bound couple, but I did know that it happened about a year after their graduation. There was a rumoured attack at Court and supposedly in protecting Dad, she'd given up her life, not just as a guardian, but simply as a woman who didn't want to watch her loved on die. But that was just a story Ali once told me and neither of us really knew if that was really true or not. After all, an attack at Court sounded pretty ridiculous. It wasn't impossible, but it was certainly rare, much rarer than an attack on an Academy due to the high security.

For a while, I simply stood awkwardly in the doorway, not sure where I wanted to go. The cottage brought back so many memories, and no matter which room I went into, there would always be amusing moments to be remembered. In the end, I settled for going into one room at a time.

Ali was patient with me, never saying anything while he followed me into one room after another as I worked my way through the house. In the back of my mind, I couldn't help think jokingly that he was somewhat like a stalker trailing behind me like a shadow but I knew that it was a good thing he was here. I wasn't entirely sure that I would've been able to cope with the rush of memories without someone important to me being there.

My room was just as I remembered it. Dark colour scheme with glow in the dark stars littered all over the walls. I was obsessed with them as a child and I did still love anything to do with stars. My fingers reached out and poked at a few that were threatening to fall and I couldn't help but smile.

"You know, it was definitely your fault that my room was decorated like this." I commented with a grin.

"How so?"

"I can't recall which one, but you told me a story about stars one day when I was about five and I remember begging Mum and Dad to buy bags of these things so that I could remodel my room and make it look like an observatory."

Ali stared at me for a moment before chuckling. "Ah, that might be true."

"Might be?"

"Okay, is," he retorted in defeat, ruffling my hair in exasperation.

"How can this place look exactly the same after so many years?"

"Because none of us dared to move a thing." Ali told me simply. "We were all wishing in the back of our minds without saying anything out loud that one day you would come home, Kalster."

"We didn't want to think that you were dead and clung onto the small speck of hope that you would come home," a voice laced with pain came from the doorway.

I whirled around in surprise to see Joe leaning casually against the doorframe. My face contorted into an apologetic expression and I stepped over to hug him tightly. His arms instantly went around me, wrapping me in a secure embrace.

"You guys never left my mind either, not for a day." I told him.

"Glad to hear it, Kalani." Rosette spoke with a warm smile. "Let's head downstairs."

I blinked in surprise. "Downstairs? Why?"

"Enough with the questions, just come down." Joe scoffed with a roll of his eyes. He didn't wait for me to reply and simply tugged me along with him as he walked down the hallway and down the stairs. Ali followed closely behind us and he sent me a reassuring smile. Hopefully I wasn't about to be slaughtered by my family for causing them so much grief and concern.

I prepared myself for the worst, but whatever I had been anticipating, it wasn't this. I squealed in alarm when a popper went off behind me after I'd entered the kitchen. There was food strewn on the counter tops and small decoration of cut out stars hug from the cupboards and ceiling.

"Wh- what?" I stammered in shock. "How did I not hear this going on?"

"You were a rather preoccupied with your recollection of your life here to hear it." Aunty Jules told me with a grin.

"So you didn't notice that we were here at all?" Martin asked curiously.

"Not one bit."

"Well then it seems there is a time and place when you're not being a total uptight guardian after all." Ali laughed, smacking my back in a playful gesture.

"I'm not a total uptight guardian." I pouted indignantly.

"Kai, you managed to sense that we'd arrived when we were outside the Academy at the football pitch. No normal guardian would've been able to do that." Ali scoffed.

"You might be a trainee, but that doesn't make you any less capable of being just as good if not even better than fully pledged guardians." Aunty Jules told me seriously. "I hear that you thoroughly impressed Lady Drozdov. She came to me, asking why you weren't bumped up a couple of years or just given the Guardian Exam straight away."

"You're kidding…" I stared at her in shock. From the completely serious but proud expression she sent me, I knew she wasn't. "Okay, maybe you're not… But seriously? I know that I'm good, but I didn't really think I was _that_ good. I mean, I didn't really think of it in that way until Ali mentioned earlier that in a year's time people will be tripping over themselves to request me as a guardian."

"Skylar, I know that you don't want to be reminded of graduation from what Joseph's already told me, but you need to be careful. If you attract any more attention than you already have, the King's going to notice and want to request you to join his entourage of guardians." Maria warned me.

I froze and just stared at her for several moments and my jaw fell into a gape. "But- but… I'm not even doing this on purpose! I'm just, you know, living life the way I feel I should! I don't mean to be kicking everybody's asses so easily."

"We know you don't." Aunty Jules sighed, shooting Maria an exasperated glare. "Honestly, Maria, did you have to say that to her now of all times just when she was about to loosen up? She was uptight enough to begin with, now she's going to be tighter than a clam."

"These types of things are best addressed as soon as possible and since we were already on the topic of guardian requests, I thought I should give her a heads up. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, but there is a time and place for it and this isn't the time."

"Then when would be the time? When the King actually hears about her and demands an audience? Oh that will go down well, he'll know who she is straight away!"

"Guys!" I squealed, slamming my hands on the table to catch their attention. "I know you're both concerned about me, but seriously do we have to do this now?"

Aunty Jules and Maria glanced at each other briefly before wry smiles spread across their faces. "Did she just obscurely and politely tell us to shut up?" Maria asked, amusement laced in her tones.

"I think she did." Aunty Jules agreed before breaking into a laugh. "No doubt about it, you've inherited Raymond's politeness."

"If you'd taken after Amelie, you would've just told us to shut it straight away without any hesitation." Maria added.

"Yes but Mum was absolutely fearless and ruthless with her words. Her brutal honesty was one of the things that made her legendary after all. I don't think anyone else could get away with her level brutal honesty."

"You don't seem to have that kind of mind set when it comes to Nick O'Connor." Martin commented.

"That's because he's a jerk and doesn't deserve my polite consideration. Skirting around the truth with him just means that he'll get the wrong idea." I stated bluntly.

"Oh little sky, you were so small when you left us!" Joe suddenly exclaimed and we all turned to him, wondering why he said something so incredibly off topic.

My face heated when I saw what caught his attention. On one of the pillars around the island table we had in the kitchen were horizontal markings with a date next to each of them. They were markings of my height every half a year and glancing at it now, I realised that I really was tiny when I left six years ago.

On another pillar, there were little notes of encouragement from my parents each year telling me that things were going to be more amazing in the year to come. My eyes lingered and watered at the sight of the last message they left on the pillar. It was a note saying that we were going to have a family trip to England together. We never did go. The attack came just two weeks before we were supposed to leave for England.

My hands reached out and my fingers trailed over the light indents the pen made on the wood. "Just two weeks…"

"Joseph!" Maria smacked him in the shoulder and he yelped.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"No." I told him with a firm voice. "It's alright now."

"Kai?"

"Everything's fine now." I smiled at my family, feeling a strength that was lost to me since my parents' death envelope me like a warm, comforting blanket.

I knew that they were confused about what I'd meant. The confusion was as clear as day on all their expressions but one by one it faded and they seemed to just accept it. It didn't matter whether they understood or not, what mattered was that I really was fine now. I wasn't an emotional mess, something fragile, in danger of shattering into a million pieces at the first hurdle I came across.

I glanced at the food and gave a grin. "So, let me guess? Maria made all of this?"

"Not just Maria." Rosette protested. "Just so you know, your parents were the only people incapable of cooking properly without creating some kind of a strange dish that's got the potential to send people to the infirmary."

I laughed and gave Rosette a tight hug. "Well then, it's just as well that I didn't manage to inherit that trait from them."

"I'm really surprised that you can cook as well as you do." Maria commented.

"Well, I did grow up eating really nice food so I was accustomed to knowing what tasted right and what didn't. When I started cooking, I already instinctively knew what was edible and what wasn't so it wasn't too hard. Besides, I remember watching you a few times back then."

"Whenever you weren't off gallivanting with Alistair, causing mayhem to whomever you didn't like you mean?" she teased.

I blushed again and threw a small cookie at her. Ali merely chuckled and ruffled my hair in response to her comment.

"You have to admit, Kalster, those you damn good times."

"Of course they were, I wouldn't have put up with your craziness if it wasn't fun." I scoffed. "Thanks to you, I turned out just as crazy as you are."

"I'm not crazy."

"Yeah, you really are sometimes." I told him bluntly.

"And just moments ago you were saying that you didn't inherit your mother's brutality with words." He sniffed dramatically, pretending to be hurt by my words when I know that he didn't really mean it.

I smirked. "I don't recall saying that I didn't. I simply said that no one else was likely to get away with it."

He gaped at me and I burst into laughter.

Aunty Jules sighed, turning to Martin. "We really are going to have our hands full, aren't we?"

"We already do." Martin grunted. "Lord and Lady Badica have requested her attendance to one of their dinners."

Aunty Jules arched her brows. "As in, one of their monthly dinners with some of the royal families?"

"That's the one."

They all just stared at me and I couldn't help but feel like a small child under their intense stares. Maria clapped her hands together and cheered; Rosette gave me a proud smile; Aunty Jules clapped me on the back as did Joe and Ali. I felt like a bruise was going to form from the amount of smacks I was getting from them.

"Really? Did you have to mention that?" I groaned in annoyance, glaring at Martin.

"Well I don't see why not? I'd much rather have you glare at me than have them all try and kill me for not telling them sooner."

"We have to find you a dress!" Rosette and Maria yelled in perfect synchronicity.

I paled at the thought of going shopping for clothes again. Oh boy… I might like shopping on a general scale, especially when it came to stationary and strange little trinkets and food, but shopping for clothes was definitely not one of my favourite things.

"No!"

"Yes, Kalani. You are not going to one of their dinners in tacky clothes. You have a reputation to uphold as a child prodigy!"

"I'm not going!"

"Skylar, are you freaking out by any chance?"

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't be? I've been invited to a dinner with four of the most _important royal families_! Tell me why I shouldn't be freaking out."

"Hm, let us think. Maybe it's because you're a royal too?" Ali pondered mockingly.

"This isn't something to joke about! It's dinner, with the parents' of the four royal prodigies at this school. It's completely ridiculous! Why the hell do I have to go have dinner with them?" I screamed, borderline hysterically. "And now you're telling me that we've got to go shopping? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Little sky, relax!" Joe snapped, barely raising his voice to get through to me in my hysteria. "Just breathe and think of it as a normal formal dinner."

"It's not normal, Joey. It's a dinner with the royals."

"But you're a royal too, this _is_ normal for you. They might not know it, and you might not have had to have formal dinners with royals yet, but this _is_ normal. Besides, you won't be alone. The four boys will be there too and you get along with them perfectly so it'll be fine. They'll help you if you panic." Joe reminded me.

I took several deep breaths and stared at him with a sheepish grin. "My bad… I kind of lost it a little there. I mean, meeting the Badicas I could handle since it wasn't in a formal situation but I guess you're right. It is _just_ a dinner. Nothing more, nothing less."

"There we go." Maria said, sighing with relief.

"Why do you oppose shopping so much? Amelie loved it and would dress up whenever the occasion arose."

"Yes, but that's Mum, not _me_. I mean, sure there are times when I'll dress a little differently than my usual joggers and jumper but dressing up isn't really my thing at all."

"You'll have to, it may just be a dinner, but it's a _formal_ dinner."

"I know, I've realised that by now."

"So we will have to go shopping."

"Yeah, I see that. I definitely don't have anything in my wardrobe suitable."

"So we'll come with you to make sure you do pick something appropriate."

"I'm not wearing a dress, guys. No way." I shot them down flatly.

"But Kalani- " Rosette tried to reason.

"No means no. These royals want to meet _me_. Not some chick who wants to dress pretty and suck up to them. I'll be formal, I promise, but on my terms. If I wear something I'm not comfortable with, I won't be comfortable the whole evening and that'll just make things worse than they need to be. I'd much rather have one less thing to be concerned about."

Maria stared at me in dismay. "You're not going to budge, are you?"

"Nope. Not on something like this."

"Then at least let us pick out some jewellery."

"Now you're just coming up with excuses to spend money." I scoffed. "But fine, but nothing ostentatious. I refuse to stick out like a sore thumb."

"You won't be. The Dragomirs are well known for wearing ostentatious clothes and accessories no matter now casual the event is."

"Well, they're well established royals so it doesn't matter if they stick out like a sore thumb, they would naturally anyway."

"So would you, Kai. You're the only one at this academy on par and can surpass the four royal prodigies, not to mention you're a girl. It doesn't get more infamous than that."

"If you put it that way, of course I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb!" I protested.

"But that's what you are, Kalster, it's about time you started embracing that reputation."

"I don't want to. I didn't work so hard to have that kind of attention grabbing attention here." I pouted immaturely.

They all stopped and stared at me once more before they all broke into laughter. I watched them worriedly for a moment, not sure how to react to their laughing. I didn't know why they were laughing, and the fact that they were all laughing so hysterically worried me even more. Martin and Aunty Jules had the most control over their emotions out of my family unit and for them to be laughing like that as well seriously worried me.

"Um… am I missing something?" I asked innocently, clueless to why they'd all been reduced into hysterics.

Eventually they managed to calm down and Maria wiped away what looked suspiciously like tears from her eyes. "Not at all," she wheezed.

"When's the dinner?" Rosette asked, directing the question at Martin rather than me. It was just as well because I had been more preoccupied about the fact that I was having dinner with royal families to take note of the date.

"It's in a week's time. A few days before the annual trip." Martin informed her.

My attention and excitement perked at his reply. "Annual trip?"


	41. Chapter 40

**_~x~ Chapter 40 ~x~_**

"What annual trip?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. There was an annual trip? Excitement rose like the tide and I waited impatiently for him to reply.

"There's an annual end of year trip for the year group about to bog down into their studies and really have to get their act together for the last two years leading up to graduation. It's always been a tradition here." Martin explained to me.

"That means my year group, right?" I asked, just to clarify it.

"Yes. You will be attending the annual trip for the sophomores." Martin clarified.

I squealed and jumped up in delight. "Yes! There's a trip! I always love trips, they're always so much fun and so much to do and oh wow breathe…" I gushed.

"Okay, now you're starting to resemble a teenage girl." Ali commented with a chuckle. "Glad to see that that stage in life wasn't lost on you."

"Of course I'm a teenage girl, Ali, what the heck do I look like to you?"

"Honestly? A hot chick that's way too mature for her age," he replied without missing a beat and I just gaped at him.

"Did you just say I'm hot?"

"I did."

"Ali!" I squeaked in embarrassment and smacked his upper arm.

"What?"

"Time and place, not to mention it's highly embarrassing!"

"Everyone agrees with me, though they probably wouldn't use the same words as I did." He gave a nonchalant shrug and glanced at the others, daring them to deny it. None of them did and that just made me feel even more embarrassed.

"This is so uncool." I complained and covered my face.

Ali laughed and tugged me in for a hug. "So the sassy chick who was so daring not so long ago also gets embarrassed and flustered easily. How does that even work?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that we've all worked out by now that I'm basically the most impossible thing in existence by now so why not add a few more oddities?" I said casually.

They seemed to think about my choice of words for a moment before understanding dawned on them about what I'd meant.

Aunty Jules sighed and ran a hand through her hair which, if memory served, was very rarely let down and loose. "We already spent three years trying to understand how it was possible. We came up with nothing so it was much easier to just adapt to it rather than try to come up with a reason as to why you are able to manipulate the elements just like a Moroi could."

I pushed away from Ali and wandered over to Aunty Jules. I couldn't help but run my fingers through her hair reminiscently. She stilled briefly before relaxing once more and she took Ali's place in hugging me. Her hands ran over my back soothingly and I basically turned into putty in her warm embrace. Though I was jelly-like, I never stopped combing my fingers through her hair. Her dark coloured tresses reminded me so much of Mum's. I remembered playing with Mum's hair a lot as a child. Back then, I had kept my hair short for convenience sake and because I couldn't be bothered to let it out long.

"Aw, Kalster, are you ditching me?" Ali protested playfully.

"It's not like that." I scoffed, rolling my eyes at him. "Don't be so dramatic, Alster."

"Kai, that's him being normal. He's a whole lot worse when he's dramatic. That's one thing that hasn't changed about him." Aunty Jules told me.

"I for one am glad to hear that." I commented, shooting him a beaming grin. "So, Martin. Where's the trip going to be?"

"You'll have to wait to find out just like everyone else," he replied with a smirk.

"Oh Martin you can't do this to me. I hate waiting. I just want the trip now." I groaned impatiently. "How long is the trip for?"

"About a week."

"A whole week? Wow you really are being nice to sophomores before we get thrown into the deep end." I whistled in awe. I pulled away from Aunty Jules and took a seat around the counter where there was a lot of untouched food and dug into the snacks. "Nice, a whole week off of school, I so can't wait! No more annoying math lessons that I can barely comprehend!"

"That's what you're most excited about when it comes to having a week off? You never fail to amaze me, little sky." Martin shook his head with a small exasperated smile.

"Well, I'm not excited the most about that, but it certainly is a highlight." I grinned cheekily at him. "So what does this holiday consist of?"

"Literally? Relaxing. It really is a break before introducing you to the Junior syllabus and you really have to get working on the academic subjects."

"Yeesh, that sounds awful." I grimaced. "Thanks for the food."

"No problem," they all chimed at once.

"Skylar, were you using the cook room earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you just go to dinner?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I missed it."

Martin frowned at me and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Why? You left my office in good time to make it in time for dinner."

I shot them a sideways glance while munching on another biscuit. "What is this? Some kind of an interrogation?"

"No, I just wondered. I know I told you that you could use it whenever you wanted but Christian was cleaning up when I walked in and he said that you'd cooked." Maria explained.

"Christian Chance?" Joe stared at me with raised brows inquisitively. "I didn't know you guys were chummy."

"We're not. At least, I don't think so, not yet, though he certainly seems like a nice guy."

"Are you sure we're talking about the same guy here? We are talking about Nick O'Connor's friend, right? The guy you pretty much hate."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say I hate O'Connor, I just don't think much of him and I don't think he deserves any considerate words considering the things he's said to me since I came back."

"But we are talking about the same Chance, right?"

"Well, so far as I know, there is only one, so yeah. Why the difficulty to wrap you head around the idea?"

"We'll, he's O'Connor's friend, I didn't think that you'd approach the guy."

"I didn't approach him per se. But I don't judge people solely based on who they hang out with, you know. That'd be pretty horrible."

"Oh, stop beating around the bush and just tell us what happened, Kai." Joe complained. "Clearly something happened. Otherwise you wouldn't have made dinner for him."

"It's not for me to tell, but I walked in on something and we just talked." I told him simply. If Christian wanted grown up help with what was happening to him, it was up to him to ask for it. But since he hadn't yet, I could only guess that he still wanted to try and deal with it himself. That was probably why he trained so hard, so that he could defend himself in those kinds of situations.

Martin narrowed his eyes at me and I smiled back at him innocently. "Is there any fights I should know about?"

"Nope." Well, technically, I wasn't lying. It wasn't really a fight, I threw out threats, defended myself against a Moroi trying to kiss me and they scampered away. That was it. Christian was the one who did the ass whooping.

"Kai."

"I really didn't, honest."

"I hope I don't find out otherwise, Kai."

"I wouldn't lie to your face so blatantly like that. At least, I hope I won't have a need to." I told him honestly.

"I hope that you will never lie to my face."

"I'll do my best, Martin, but you know that circumstances dictate actions."

"I'm going to have to accept that reasoning, aren't I?"

"Yep, definitely. Especially since we're all lying right now." I told him with a wry grin. "I'm sorry about that, that you all have to lie when I know how much you hate it."

"If it'll keep you here with us, I'll lie as much as I need to depending on what it is of course." Aunty Jules scoffed.

I laughed and hugged her briefly. "I really am loved, thanks guys."

"Thank you for turning into such a wonderful girl rather than going completely off the rails." Rosette smiled at me.

"Could you imagine if she became a brat?" Joe joked. "That would be horrible."

"That's because I know you'd all beat the crap out of me if I turned into a total brat." I muttered and rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I've been meaning to ask. What does everyone think about letting Jenson in on the secret?"

"Kai, it's _Guardian_ Jenson." Aunty Jules reprimanded sternly.

"Sorry, bad habit." I smiled sheepishly at her, feeling like a petulant child due to the tone of voice she'd used.

"I find it surprising that someone outside of the family found out so soon." Rosette commented.

"Well, if someone hadn't recklessly burst into my room in a raging fit, the secret would probably remain a secret for a few weeks or months more." Aunty Jules jibed at Maria.

"Well excuse me for being angry that I was the last to find out. If you'd been in my position, you would've done the exact same thing." Maria scowled defensively.

"I would've had better sense than to burst into someone's office screaming at the top of their voice."

"No you wouldn't."

"I never shouted when I saw her."

"No, apparently you tried to beat her black and blue instead."

"At least I didn't expose her secret to an outsider."

"Yes, exposing her secret to someone's who's trustworthy is definitely worse than taking the risk of having her attend school for the rest of the week at least covered in bruises. Yes of course that's better!"

"I didn't manage to get a single hit in. She wouldn't have had that problem."

"Ha! You're losing your touch, Juliet."

"Would you like to be the judge of that?"

"Seriously, stop it!" I snapped, finally losing my cool. I'd been hoping that their petty little argument wouldn't escalate but that was obviously hopeless with the pair almost at each other's necks. "I thought you guys were meant to be the mature ones, not the petty little high school girls. That's my job, not yours."

The pair stilled and simply continued to glare at each other. "You guys are far too similar, that's why you're at each other's necks." I grumbled in annoyance.

"I am nothing like her!" they both exclaimed, pointing at each other.

I sighed and chomped on another snack. "My point proven."

"To be honest, while I'm surprised that Crispin's found out so soon, I'm not surprised that he's the first one outside of the family unit to find out." Joe cut in. "He's one of the most observant guys I know and he was already pretty suspicious about your background already. It was really hard keeping the truth from him since he kept expressing his suspicion and kept commenting on how almost nothing about you made sense if you actually think about it."

"Hey, I'm offended!" I complained. "I do make sense."

"But you don't, Kai." Joe told me emphatically, trying to make me understand. "Just think about it. You're too accustomed to fighting Strigoi. No matter how much you've trained, for an experienced and observant guardian, it's natural to have suspicions about why you know so much about their weaknesses and about our world."

"Yeah, that's why my back up was, I met some Moroi in the outside world and they taught me what I needed to know to survive."

"You should never have met Moroi and known what they were. It doesn't make sense that Moroi outside of the Academies taught you skills rather than sending you here. They would've known instinctively what you were. According to Crispin, even the Alchemists knew what you were. Thinking about it logically, none of your story actually makes any sense. People haven't really caught on because they're so caught up with how good a fighter you are."

"I see his point, Kalster." Ali agreed. "For us, we don't really question it because we _know_. For us, it makes sense and we have no need to question anything about you. But for someone like Jenson, who's observant and tends to question things, they're bound to find it suspicious. They might not express their suspicion to everyone, but it doesn't mean that the suspicion's not there."

"Since when the heck did you get so smart?" I grumbled.

"I am older and more experienced, remember?" he teased, ruffling my hair. "You're pretty chummy with the four royal prodigies, right?"

"I wouldn't put it like that, but we're friends."

"Has any of them spotted anything strange about you? Has any of them tried to ask questions?"

I froze and stared at him in shock. My eyes widened and my mouth gaped open. He chuckled and poked my chin to close my mouth.

"One of them has caught on?" Joe demanded. "It can't be Dan. He's a smart kid, but he's definitely not one to overthink things. He usually just accepts things as it is."

"Then maybe the twins?" Ali suggested. "The twins are cunning, reminds me of how I was when I was at that age."

"Oh I know." I commented slyly.

"So the twins have begun to suspect?" Ali asked, eyes hopeful that he'd got it right.

"No." I told him flatly.

"Then it's got to be Ozera." Aunty Jules stated.

"No comment." I couldn't help but shoot Martin a nervous plea for help. We'd already had this conversation earlier and I'd confessed to him already that I suspected Drew might have begun to catch on to my lie. I had no doubt that Drew knew that I was lying sometimes, especially when it came to talking about my past. Drew was far too observant, easily able to notice when something didn't quite make sense, and he wasn't afraid to confront people about it.

"Martin?" Rosette asked curiously, noticing the glance I gave him.

Martin gave a heavy sigh and shook his head. "It's just your luck that you had to become so close to the most observant student in the school."

"I'm not close with him!" I protested in embarrassment.

"No offense, Kai, but you really are." Joe told me. "There've been tons of rumours, you know? Amongst the teachers I mean. There's speculation that you and Ozera are going to get together at some point before graduation."

I stared at him in shock. "You've got to be kidding me! Why the hell are the teachers talking about that sort of thing?"

"It caught our interest. Ozera isn't the type to make an effort with people who didn't interest him in some way. You'd have to be blind not to see that he's seriously interested in you. Of course, we don't know whether that's in a romantic or just a curious way, but the fact still stands that he wants to know you." Joe explained.

I made a face and groaned. "Is it that obvious?"

"Let's put it this way, no one ever expected him to tag along with you when you broke out. It was even more surprising when the guardians witnessed him pick you up and carry you off. Then there was the fact that you two spent the night together alone in your apartment. He should've been staying at the hotel with the others under strict supervision since he's an important royal but he insisted on staying with you. As if that wasn't odd enough, even before that, there was the fact that he was the first to step into the fight between you and Marissa. And let's not forget the fact that he punched O'Connor."

"Now that you mention it, it is a bit strange." Aunty Jules commented with a frown. "I never knew Prince Ozera to be the type to get himself so heavily involved with someone else except for the other three princes."

"He isn't." Joe persisted. "Like I said, he only gets involved when he's interested and the fact that he's so incredibly involved with you means that you've seriously piqued his interest because you're such a bundle of mysteries."

"I hope that wanting to unravel my secrets isn't the only reason why he gets so concerned about me." I grumbled, not really thinking about my words. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that I was hurt by the idea that he saw me as nothing more than a puzzle to solve. Did I want him to think of me as more than a puzzle? Even stranger, why did I even care?

"Kalanai?" Rosette whispered, concern heavy in her tones as she rested a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Huh?" I blinked and stared up at her in surprise. Mentally, I cursed as I remembered that, as a spirit user, she could see my aura and therefore tell what I was feeling. "Don't worry, it's nothing."

She watched me for a moment before giving me an all knowing smile. "We'll talk later."

"I'd rather we didn't." I blurted out, embarrassed that she'd caught on. I knew what her line of thought was and I didn't know how I felt about having a girl talk with Rosette. I'd never really had one before, especially not with a family member. It was probably going to be incredibly awkward. Then again, if we had that kind of talk, then I could try and give the awkward couple a shove in the right direction.

"Oh Kalani, I know, but we will," she told me firmly with a small teasing smile. I just groaned, knowing that I wasn't going to get my way with that.

"So, Prince Ozera is the one who's caught on?" Maria asked, snapping my attention to the conversation at hand. "How much does he suspect?"

"I'm not really sure," I admitted honestly. "I do know that he suspects I'm not who I say I am though. He's rather sceptical about some of the things I say but he hasn't said anything to my face about it just yet. I'm going to have to be extra careful around him but otherwise the others are just fine."

"It probably doesn't help that the two of you have a tiny history together." Joe added.

"Wh- what?" I stammered.

"When we dragged your sorry ass back here, you'd said that someone did see you leave. You said that Ozera watched you escape, that was how he knew about the fault in the wards. He'd watched you leave. I can't imagine that he just let you go so easily knowing who you were back then."

I stared at him and rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "Oh yeah… I did mention that, didn't I?"

"You did. So, what did happen that day? As a fellow royal, there is no way that he just let you go like that."

"He didn't really do anything. He tried to stop me, thought I was insane for breaking out and said that I wasn't going to survive a day out there on my own and I just said: 'Watch me' in response and ran out. Simple as that." I told them with a shrug. "I wouldn't really call something like that having a past."

"Kai." Aunty Jules called out to get my attention. "You don't understand. You're the reason why Prince Ozera started attending dhampir training sessions."

"What?" I squealed.

"In your year group, no Moroi was interested in learning how to fight alongside the dhampirs. You remember that much, no?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but Ozera told me that he'd joined because he'd seen the Moroi fighting alongside the dhampirs that day and it urged him to take the same route because things were safer that way."

"Then he obviously didn't tell you the whole truth. He spent a whole week nagging me to let him switch courses and join the dhampir combat training course. Did you know that?"

"No…"

"He spent a whole week trying to persuade me that he felt like he needed to join combat training because he had seen that just having dhampirs fight wasn't good enough, that so long as Moroi remained on the side lines and didn't help out, more people were going to get hurt and die than necessary. For the whole week, my determination to keep him out of the combat course didn't waver. He was a very important heir to the main Ozera family after all, I didn't think that he should be involved in the fights against Strigoi."

"Then why did you let him join in the end?"

"Because he told me that, if a shy girl who rarely ever raised her head and let determination flare in her eyes could take down a Strigoi even in the worst of moments and then break out of the school not long after despite the heavy security surrounding her, then he didn't want to just sit around and not fight." Aunty Jules told me, pinning me with her firm gaze. "Your break out and your determination to do what you believed in made him want to do the same. It made him want to do what he felt right which was to join in the fight alongside dhampirs."

"I… I never knew…" I murmured in shock at what I'd heard.

I never would've thought that my break out six years ago would be the turning point in having Moroi in my year join the dhampir course… My mind drifted back to the conversation we'd had during the massive game in combat class last week. When we had been talking about my escape, there was something in his voice and a strange gleam in his eyes. I remembered finding that a little strange but didn't think anything of it at the time. Could it be that that was what he was recalling back then? That my escape was what prompted him to start the dhampir training course?

Suddenly, my thoughts took a dramatic turn for the worse. What on earth was he going to think once my secret was out and he found out who I really was? If he found out that I was that same girl who escaped that day, how the heck was he going to react? Was he going to be calm like Crispin and revert to treating me like a person rather than some royal? Or was he going to be the one to break me into a million pieces by creating a barrier caused by the high consideration he held for the Ivashkov royal from all those years ago?

Panic shot through me. Not taking Drew's reaction in account for the moment, what on earth was everyone else going to think? How were they going to react? How were my friends going to react? Were they going to hate me for lying to them? Were they going to think that I was being a fake and just messing around with them? The endless possibilities swam through my mind and for a moment, I pretty much lost it.


	42. Chapter 41

**_~x~ Chapter 41 ~x~_**

"Kai!" Martin snapped, clapping his hands together in front of my face to drag me out of my panicking.

I blinked at him. "What?"

"What are you panicking about this time?"

"Everything?" I replied meekly.

"Go through one thing at a time."

I stared at them for a moment and realised that I was being surrounded by grownups. Even Ali wasn't a kid anymore like I was back then. I felt a little isolated, but knew that I was in good hands so I wasn't too worried.

"Well, I just didn't quite think about the severity of what would happen once the truth got out. I mean, I might say that I prefer to have people know me for who I am rather than me as a royal, but I guess I never really took into account how such a secret might affect them after it gets out. My friends are going to be seriously shocked, I know that much, but it's impossible to tell how they'll react. And well… hearing that Ozera thought so highly of the Ivashkov princess six years ago, it makes me think that I want him to be the last person to find out."

"Let's just hope that he won't find out for a while." Ali scoffed.

"Let's hope that no one finds out for a good long while. Let's pray that at least for the next couple of weeks no one else finds out. Otherwise, the trip is going to be a complete nightmare." Martin grumbled.

"Can I at least know what guardians are coming along?" I pried.

"Joseph, Guardian Jenson and Brooks are the ones you know well I believe?" Aunty Jules listed.

"You know Brent and Black as well, they were on your list." Joe added.

"Then there'll be a few other guardians that I doubt you remember much of." Aunty Jules waved her hand dismissively.

"Will any Moroi be joining us?" I asked curiously.

"I won't be going as I'm head nurse, but Jill does just as good a job as I do. I believe you know Jill well. She speaks very highly of you, Kalani." Rosette told me with a warm smile. "She'll be going of course as doctor and nurse in case there are any injuries. Raphael will be going as well since the pair of them are almost inseparable. I wish that they'd admit that they're a couple already. It's painful to watch them."

I scoffed and stared pointedly at Martin and Rosette. "Oh I wonder who they remind us of."

"Kai!" Martin started, shooting me a reprimanding glare.

"What, it's true. We've already talked about this so don't go giving me evil glares." I retorted indignantly. "I'm back now, so your silly reason no longer stands."

"It was not a silly reason as you call it," he protested.

"Martin, I have to agree with Kai, it was a stupid excuse." Aunty Jules told him bluntly. "None of us had the heart to say so but now things are different. Hurry up and start something already. You two are even worse than Jill and Raphael."

Martin and Rosette both blushed and refused to look at one another. Martin let out a deep breath and chuckled nervously. "Well, we've just been told, haven't we, Rosette?"

"I suppose we have," she agreed with a small shy smile.

"So are you guys finally going to set up a date now?" I urged.

The silly couple turned to face me with stunned expressions before they both exclaimed, "Kai/Kalani!"

"What? Might as well. You've been putting it off for more than a decade already so get to it you two! Otherwise I never see you two get together." I told them bluntly.

"I can't believe I'm being told to go on a date by a teenager…" Martin grumbled in disbelief.

"Be thankful that it's a teenager you know well." I grinned cheekily with a wink.

"If it had been any other teenager saying something like that to me, they'd be in detention faster than they could say 'What?'" he scoffed.

I watched for a moment while my beloved family unit began to throw casual comments and jibes at each other back and forth and smiled. I was back, I was finally home. It was a wonderful feeling, one that I never thought that I would have after the death of my parents. I didn't think that it would be possible for me to feel like this again without my parents around, but I knew that even with their death, they would always be here, here in our hearts and memories. I couldn't drown in sorrow over their deaths anymore, I had to move on and cherish the people who were here with me now.

It didn't mean that I would forget about my parents of course. I'd always be upset about the fact that they died and that I couldn't talk to them every day anymore. But I knew that they'd both give me a serious pummelling if they knew I was trudging along daily while constantly mourning over their death. I had to move forward. We all did.

Then something occurred to me. "Um… if you guys are all here, won't other guardians find it a bit weird that you're all off somewhere together?" I asked curiously, munching on another snack.

"Kai, don't speak with your mouth full." Aunty Jules reprimanded.

"They won't, because we'd always done this. At first, sure they found it a bit confusing, but those who've been here for a long time know how close we are so they don't question it." Rosette explained patiently.

"As for newcomers, well, they learn from other guardians that it's normal for us to occasionally meet here after hours." Joe added, shrugging.

"How often do people come to this house, if at all?"

"It's off limits." Martin told me with a smile. "The immediate area around this house is off limits and has been since you left. The only people allowed to patrol near this area are the people in this room now."

"So, if I were to occasionally come back here, I'm not likely to be caught by a stranger guardian?"

"The chances are low," Martin nodded, "but let either Juliet or I know that you're coming here first. That way, we'd be prepared to make up an excuse in case a guardian does catch you around here."

"Okay, I'll be sure to remember that."

For the next hour or so, we simply chatted and I told them more about my life outside of the Academy and the friends I had. In turn, they filled me on what had been happening for the past six years regarding the royal families and court. Publically, I might not be known as a royal at the moment, but it was best that I kept track of things so that when the truth does get exposed, I would at least be a little prepared for how to handle the court. After that, we decided to call it a night since we all needed to get some rest. I helped them clear the counter and Joe escorted me back to the dorms. Since it was so late, there was no one else around so we didn't bump into anyone.

"Kai…" a voice drifted through my dreams. At first, I paid no attention to it and continued to dance. "Kai, get up or you'll miss the pancakes!"

"Pancakes!" I squealed and shot up. Dizziness shot through me from having moved too fast and with a groan I slowly sank back into bed.

"Kai, come on, I've been calling you for the past five minutes." Roxy complained and even though I couldn't see her, I could just imagine her putting her hands on her hips in exasperation. I opened my eyes to find that I had been right. She really did have her hands on her hips and she was looking at me with an expression heavy with exasperation. "Honestly, I don't know who's worse, you or Els…"

I glanced around and noticed that only Roxy and Ingrid were in my room at the moment. "Where's Els?"

"She's just getting ready." Ingrid told me with a sweet smile in greeting. "Morning, Kai."

"Morning, Ingrid." I yawned and sat back up again.

"Seriously, how that girl can be so fashion orientated and such a terrible riser I'll never know. She's going to be late in the morning for the rest of her life."

"Well, not if she has you around." I laughed. "You're a pretty good alarm."

"Speaking of alarms, I see that you've mindlessly destroyed another one," she commented dryly as she gestured at the mechanical parts lying on the ground near the far wall.

"It wasn't mindless." I said defensively. "It was done sleepily. Give me a moment, I'll quickly get changed and wake myself up a little."

Slowly, I got off the bed and ruffled my hair as I walked to the drawers. I pulled out my usual clothes, a tank top, a square patterned cropped shirt and a pair of combats. I headed into the bathroom, hastily got changed and followed my morning routing. Once I was done, I walked back into my room and was welcomed with a shriek.

"Kai!" Els shrieked and I winced.

"Yes, Els?"

"Please tell me that's not what you're wearing!"

"That would be lying."

"No!"

"Yes. Now let's go to breakfast. I'm getting hungry." I grumbled and rubbed my stomach a little. I didn't wait for Els' approval of my outfit, I simply walked out of my room and stared at them expectantly. Els shot me a glare as she passed and she pouted.

"Morning," four voices called out in greeting.

Turning around, we noticed the four royals heading towards us and I noticed a strange cut on Quinn's cheek and Dan's hair looked a little singed. "Um… did something happen?" I asked with arched brows.

"Drew happened." Jackson grumbled.

"Huh?" I blinked and turned to face the slightly grouchy looking Moroi.

"I'm no good at getting up in the morning…" he grumbled.

"That's an understatement!" Quinn scoffed.

"You've nearly killed us on many occasions, man." Dan complained.

I had to grin at that. Finally, I met someone who was even worse at handling getting up than I was. "You get so violent that you actually use magic?"

"It's a rare occasion, but it does happen." Drew told me.

"We're glad that you're a dhampir and not a Moroi then. We definitely do not want to be in the same boat as your alarm clocks." Roxy said, shuddering at the thought.

"I'm not that bad…"

"The alarm clock is broken beyond repair. There are mechanical parts surrounding the poor thing. How do you throw it so hard that you actually smash open an alarm clock?" Ingrid sighed, shaking her head.

"I have no reservation about my strength?" I laughed nervously.

"Let's get to the hall, otherwise all the pancakes are going to be gone." Jackson suggested.

"Pancakes!" I cheered and nearly ran the rest of the way there but I managed to hold back that urge.

Again, I found Nick glaring at me as soon as we walked in but at least this time he didn't try to stir up trouble which was certainly a smart move on his part. Breakfast whirled by in a flash and I managed to stomach four pancakes before we were kicked out. That morning, lessons proceeded as normal and for once, there was nothing going on, just plain old lessons and nothing more. After lunch though, I remembered that I had a 'wonderful' two hours to spend with good old Guardian Brooks again. I grumbled the whole way to the classroom but made sure to make sure I wasn't scowling in distaste when I walked in.

I froze and just stared when I saw who were there. I gaped and dropped my books when I saw them and both turned to face me.

"Ah, you're here! We were making bets on whether you'd actually turn up or not." Dan told me and with a flick of his hand, a small gust of wind shot past me and shut the door.

"Looks like you lose." Drew smirked, eyes gleaming with mischief. "I'm surprised you turned up."

"I'm not up for incurring Brooks' wrath." I grimaced, settling comfortably onto the table at the front. "Why are you two here? I thought you only had the duty of helping me out on Thursdays?"

"He didn't tell you?" Dan blinked in surprise. "Brooks can't make it today, said that he had something else to take care of."

"He didn't tell me. Probably thought that I would run off and not turn up if I knew that he wasn't here to torture me with bucket loads of information."

"Would you have run away if you knew he wouldn't be here?" Drew glanced at me, curious.

"Of course!" I told him, no shame whatsoever. "Who in their right mind would want to spend two hours stuck going through Vamp 101? That's just stupid."

"So you're not a model student?" Drew was still staring at me and amusement gleamed in his eyes.

"Would a model student almost get into a fight on the first day, or break out of school in the first week?"

"Girl's got a good point." Dan chuckled.

"Do we actually have to go through Vamp 101 right now?" I asked them cheekily. "I can read all about that sort of thing in the books."

"Will you actually read the books though?" Drew pinned me with a surprisingly serious gaze.

"Oh no… please don't tell me that you're a model student…" I groaned.

"I'm not a model student, but I am at the top."

"Was that a hint of pride I hear, Ozera?"

"It depends on how you want to see it. Your answer?"

"Probably not…" I trailed off lamely.

"How good are you at reading?"

"Speedy once I get into it."

"Hey!" Dan cut in enthusiastically. "How are you guys with catching up on the work?"

"It's going downhill." I told him flatly. "It's killing me."

"How about we have a library session? That way we can help you guys out and you can read up on Vamp 101 then."

"I just told you I'm drowning in work and you're adding more work?" I complained.

"You just said that you're speedy with reading. It won't take you more than half an hour." Dan reasoned.

"Problem is, everything else will." I grumbled. "But reading beats having to go through it now so I'll deal."

"Glad to know we're on the same page." Dan beamed and gave me a high five.

"Hey, do you guys have any inside news on what's happening for the trip coming up?" I asked.

"Oh no, you've got to wait just like everyone else." Drew smirked, shaking his head.

"So you do know!" I squealed.

"I didn't say anything."

"Your mischievous 'I know it all' look says it all."

"I don't have one."

"Of course you do, Ozera, don't try to blag your way out of this."

A phone suddenly rang and Drew and I frowned when we heard the theme of Ghost Busters. We turned to Dan who looked defensive. "What? It's a perfectly good song!"

"It is, there's no doubt about it." I agreed. "But your ringtone? Really?"

"It's a good one," he insisted, glancing down at the caller ID. He frowned for a moment in puzzlement before answering. "Hello, Mum?"

Drew shot him a curious glance and I simply sat on the table, patiently waiting for the call to end. For his mum to have called during school time, it must've been pretty urgent.

"Yeah, I'm with her now." He paused, listening to her response. "Wait, now?" Another pause. "Alright, I'll ask her."

"Is everything alright, Dan?" Drew asked worriedly.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Dan told him before turning to me. "My mum was wondering if you had received the invitation to the dinner yet."

I felt my face heat in embarrassment and I squealed when Drew gave me another amused look and a cheeky wink.

"Say you're attending." Drew whispered.

"Do I have a choice? I can't exactly refuse, can I? That would be rude and probably dangerous." I scoffed with a nervous laugh. "Dan, please let Lady Zeklos know that I am honoured to have received the invite and that I would be delighted to join you all for dinner." Dan repeated what I said. "Oh, and please apologise to them on my behalf that I haven't give them a reply just yet. Things were a bit manic last night and I haven't really had the time yet."

Dan ignored the apology and told Lady Zeklos bluntly that I was going to attend the dinner. He winced at her reaction and promptly said goodbye before hanging up.

"Don't worry about apologising, Kai," he told me. "Mum's an impatient person so she wanted to know as soon as possible."

"They're not going to kill me for putting you guys in danger… are they?"

"Not likely." Dan scoffed.

"Our parents are all rather eccentric people. Since we weren't hurt at all, they have no concern over what happened except for a report on everything we'd seen and experienced. They seem to have a really strange fascination with knowing more about humans." Drew sighed.

"Not in a creepy way of course." Dan added hastily. "But they know to know just how different they live and the like."

"I suppose that's kind of understandable if you'd never lived a human lifestyle before, especially for a royal. So they don't want to kill me?"

"They're more likely to thank you and grill you for information rather than kill you." Drew reassured me.

"Grill me for information? Oh dear…" I groaned, slapping my forehead in nervousness.

"Not just that. With your looks and body, Aunty Tessa and Rhiannon will be dragging you on countless shopping trips." Dan informed, giving me a quick once over with his eyes.

Drew's eyes widened slightly and he stared at me sympathetically. "You guys aren't going to help me out of that, are you?" I narrowed my eyes accusingly at them.

"No sane person would dare try to step between my sister and her shopping," he told me simply with a shudder.

"Your sister? You have a sister?" I asked, interest piquing. I couldn't really remember much about the royal families, mainly because I never used to pay much attention to all that as a tiny pipsqueak, but I definitely couldn't recall him having a sister.

"Yeah, she's five years older and graduated from here. God, being here at the same time as her was terrifying…" Drew grumbled.

"So there's something that you can't really handle either." I smirked.

"Of course," he grunted. "I love her and all, but she's a total airhead. She barely managed to pass her graduation exams. In fact, I'm pretty sure that she was on the line for every single subject except for art."

"She's an artist?"

"She's a fashion orientated maniac." Drew grumbled. "A terrifying one."

"And who's Aunty Tessa?" I frowned, confused. I really needed to catch up on all the names of the royal families… We'd been talking about some of the main things that have happened during my absence in the vampire community, but we didn't really go into depth of the names and people. Considering these were the parents of the four prodigies, I probably should know who they were.

"That's Jackson and Quinn's aunt, their father's twin sister." Dan explained.

"Twins?" I blinked in surprise. "So I guess it runs in the family…"

"It seems like it. Is Trace going to attend as well? Being the youngest son and all… it must be terribly boring for the little kid."

"You know about that? Them being related I mean."

"Not a lot." I shook my head. "I just know that they're siblings and their relationship is a little fragile, most likely because of misunderstandings."

"It's nobody's fault, except the idiotic twins sometimes don't know how to express their feelings the way they want to. When they're unsure of how to behave, they tend to become really stern and closed off."

"But why is Trace so scared of them? He mentioned something about Jacks' power being scary. Why is that?"

"Trace wanted to see them in school and happened to stumble into one of their magic training sessions. Jackson, having the power over earth, specialised a little more on offensive techniques and accidentally injured Trace. It wasn't anything serious, but instead of being concerned the normal way about Trace's injuries, they got angry that Trace appeared."

"Let me guess, they were trying to say that Trace shouldn't be there because it was dangerous but they didn't get that across properly?" I commented dryly. "That's kind of predictable."

"Oh?" Drew glanced at me, arching his brows.

"They seem like a pair of impulsive idiots." I stated bluntly. "They're lovely, don't get me wrong, but everyone has their faults and I guess that one of theirs is that they don't know how to handle certain situations they right way."

"They're the worst when they're around Trace." Dan grumbled. "They love him to bits, but they're so stubborn that they don't know how to show Trace that they actually care about the little kid. Then it just got worse when Trace started getting scared of them. That upset them and in turn made them even worse."

"Gee… talk about family complexities." I whistled.

"Oh trust me, that's just the tip of the ice-burg."

"But we should leave the rest for when Jacks and Quinny are around." I told him. "I might be nosy, but it wouldn't be right to pry about their family matters behind their backs."

"They don't really mind I guess. Everyone knows about their family after all."

"Just because everyone else knows already doesn't mean that they don't mind, Dan." I told him firmly.

"Well, then, since we're already on the subject of families, what is yours like?" Dan asked, innocently curious.

I blinked in surprise by the turn of conversation and for a moment my mind reeled, not sure of how to respond to that. I could see the both of them staring at me with curiosity heavy in their eyes, but for some reason, Drew seemed the most interested. The way his eyes gleamed was so intense and I had to fight to shrink away from it.

"Was." I told them after a while.

"Was?"

"What _was_ my family like." I explained. "I'm an orphan. I'm surprised you guys hadn't heard about that yet." I smiled wryly.

"We had, but we weren't sure if that was just a rumour or the truth." Drew told me. "I'm sorry to hear that it was the truth."

"It's alright." I shrugged.

"What happened?" Dan asked, probing further.

I pursed my lips, wondering what to tell them. If I lied flat out, I would have to remember what I'd told them to keep the lie consistent. But if I only told them vague details that wasn't quite a lie but not the whole truth either then that would probably be easier.

"They were attacked when I was young and I started to live by myself because my aunt was unavailable to look after me." I told them simply, making the story as vague and true as I could.

"Is that why you're such a good fighter?" Drew asked, interested.

"Yeah. I was useless back them in protecting them and that drove me to train harder, to make sure that I wouldn't have to face that kind of situation again."

"If you knew your parents, how did you manage to stay out of the Academies for so long and be so oblivious to our community?" Drew probed.

"They probably wanted to keep me sheltered so that I wouldn't be in danger. Above anything else, they cared for my safety. They were the best parents in the world." I smiled warmly, reminiscing about my parents.

The two boys seemed to stare at me for a good long time and I began to feel a little self-conscious from the way they were staring.


	43. Chapter 42

_**~x~ Chapter 42 ~x~**_

"Um… is there something on my face or something?" I stammered nervously.

"No…" Dan trailed off with a somewhat breathy voice. "It's just, it was a little unexpected."

"What was?" I frowned, not understanding what he was talking about.

"Your smile." Drew said, surprise still gleaming in his eyes.

"What about it? I've smiled before." I commented a little defensively to hide my own embarrassment.

"But not like that." Dan shook his head. "And if you have, we've definitely never seen it."

"Even if I haven't, was there really a need to stare like that?"

"I wish we had a camera. Jackson and Quinn are going to be so jealous."

"A camera? Really? Is that necessary." I grimaced at the suggestion. It wasn't like I held an immense hatred of having my picture taken, after all, I've had to deal with it over the past year or so as a singer, but during my everyday life, I wasn't particularly fond of cameras. "Anyway, you guys forgot to answer my question. Is Trace going to the dinner as well?"

"I'm not sure, he isn't usually told to attend since he's so young and all." Dan shook his head. "How are you so attached to him? How did you know him in the first place?"

"Remember that game from training? The one where we had to get the signatures? Well one of mine was Castile and he happened to be at the elementary division at the time. I bumped into Trace then and he seemed to attach himself to me and since he's such an adorable little kid, I couldn't help but love him."

"It was such a shock when he suddenly appeared at lunch like that and threw himself at you. We hadn't seen Trace get attached to anyone besides Castile since…" Dan trailed off, unsure of whether to carry on or not.

"Since his mum passed away?" I finished for him. "I know about that. Castile told me that that was one of the reasons why he stuck with me, it had something to do with my hair resembling sunlight or something."

"That makes sense, considering how Lady Mirin passed away…"

"His mother was murdered by Strigoi?"

Now, that I didn't know. Ali did say an attack but I hadn't explicitly asked him what they were attacked by… Gee, just what was the world coming to? There hadn't been so many threats from Strigoi since… well since the whole hunt for the royals began around a century ago during Rose Hathaway's time. I sincerely hoped that there wasn't another hunt, because the results of the last one hadn't been pretty losing us at least two royal families if memory served.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Gee, the royals don't seem that protected, do they?" I scoffed.

"They're the most well protected Moroi." Dan protested.

"Oh really? Because it sounds to me like you guys aren't very well protected at all." I argued. "Think about it. Within a week, you four and Lady Drozdov were in danger of being killed. That kind of thing shouldn't happen, right? Then adding up all the other incidents that I'm hearing about, it all sounds very strange."

The pair stared at me as though they couldn't believe what they were hearing, and yet, the understanding began to seep into their expressions and I could practically see the wheels turning in their heads.

"You know, Kai." Dan glanced at me in amazement. "You've just made a scarily good point."

"Just the truth." I shrugged, feigning nonchalance when in fact I was flat out concerned. If things were getting more dangerous for the royals, then others needed to notice pretty damn soon otherwise we'd have another whacky crisis on our hands. No one needed to have a repeat of what happened a century ago.

I thought back to when Martin had admitted that he and rest of my tight family unit had their suspicions that the attack on the Academy six years ago wasn't just an accident like everything else had thought. What if they were right? What if it had been an attack that was made to look like a simple accident involving the failure of the wards? What was really going on?

"What are you thinking?" Drew asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. He was giving me one of those strangely intense stares again. It was the one that suggested that he was suspicious of me.

"Just thinking." I retorted smartly. "Am I not allowed to think, Ozera?"

"Is it just me, or have we somehow got onto an extremely serious topic?" Dan cut in to break the tension that was slowly building between Drew and I.

"So we have." I sniggered. "So, tell me more about this dinner. What's it like?"

"It's exactly what it is. It's just a dinner." Dan told me with a shrug. "Our parents all know each other, some of them have been friends since the Academy days."

"Did they all come here?"

"No, not all of them. Though I think Uncle Dallas, Aunty Felicia and Uncle Klaus did."

Drew sighed and shook his head with a sardonic grin on his face. "My parents were here and nearly killed each other and then realised that they didn't hate each other but that it was actually quite the opposite."

"Your parents are?" I asked curiously.

"Aunty Felicia and Uncle Klaus." Dan filled in for me.

"Ah, I see. So I guess you call them like that because you've known them for a long time?"

"Since we were tiny little kids."

I thought back to how I addressed my tight family unit and realised that I called all of them by their first names except for Aunty Jules since she really was my aunt. I tried to remember why and couldn't help breaking into an amused grin when I recalled the reason. For one thing, none of them ever insisted on it. I also used to have a strange habit of calling them strange derivations of their names back when I was tiny.

"You really do randomly break into smiles sometimes, don't you?" Dan commented in amusement.

"It may be a bad habit of mine."

"Were you thinking of something in particular?"

"I was just thinking that it's quite nice for you guys to have such close relationships with one another."

"Oh trust me, there's no doubt that our parents will be welcoming you with open arms." Dan told me. "They'll be fascinated by you, I guarantee you that."

"I don't want them to be fascinated by me!" I protested in embarrassment. "I mean seriously, catching the attention of so many people at this school is bad enough, but royal lords and ladies? I don't know how much I can handle."

"You really don't like being in the spotlight much, do you?" Drew commented with a teasing grin. "That's quite a surprise considering how you're a famous singer."

"When I'm a singer, I get to hide behind my band. I'm not alone."

"Well then, why don't you hide behind us?"

"Don't be silly. If I hide behind you guys then I'd be seen as riding on your tailcoats. I'd rather not do that. The amount of brutal rumours that will stem from that will be too much of a headache to deal with."

"I think you've dealt with enough bad rumours to last you a life time, Kai." Dan pointed out.

"Precisely why I want to avoid causing any more of them. They annoy me more than anything else."

"I thought mindless jerks annoyed you most?"

"Well, them too." I laughed. "But at least I can make up excuses most of the time to beat the crap out of them. Ungrounded rumours… those aren't so easy to beat down."

"You've certainly thrashed Nick good and proper." Dan chuckled.

"Hopefully he'll back off for a while now. Seriously, I don't understand what his problem is. I mean, why does he pick on people so much?"

"He's always had this kind of strange attitude." Dan tried to explain. "Sort of like trying to make an important place for himself. I have to say though, if you look past all the nasty comments, he's actually a pretty decent leader."

"So he does actually have a not-so-jerk-ish side?"

"Yeah, it's rare but it does happen sometimes. How else do you think we've managed to put up with him all these years?" Dan scoffed.

"There are times when his crude comments are just too much." Drew commented.

"I remember you mentioning something like that before." I grinned, recalling our conversation in the woods.

"The others have better tolerance than I do. I usually walk out first before he gets on a roll." Drew grumbled.

"Quickly going back to the dinner. How formal is it?"

"Casual formal. Just no jeans and tacky clothes. Your normal everyday clothes would probably give our parents a shock." Dan told me.

"Well, even I wasn't planning on wearing what I usually do." I rolled my eyes at him. "I do know the meaning of formal. I just wondered whether I should be turning up in some kind of a fancy dinner attire or something a little more dressed down."

"Since it happens every month, it's not really a fancy dinner occasion."

"Do you guys go every time?"

"Not always, but we go to most of them mainly as an excuse to get out of school once a month for a nice meal."

"The food here has its ups and downs, doesn't it?" I sniggered. "And that's why I'm glad I have free reign in the home ecs classroom."

"No way!" Dan cried out in disbelief. "How did you get into Valiere's good books so fast?"

"I cook well and I know it. That was part of how we broke out actually." I admitted sheepishly.

"We heard. We wondered how you knocked out the guardians at the gate so we asked around. You knocked them out with cookies? That's kind of brutal, don't you think?"

"Why?" I blinked in surprise.

"Well, cookies are meant to be comfort foods and a little more innocent than most other foods. You wouldn't really expect cookies to be so… lethal."

I thought about it for a moment before I burst into laughter. "That is so true! Man those guardians are going to be wary of my cooking for the rest of their time here."

"I think all the guardians will be more careful if they're standing guard at the gate."

"Hey, if I can help intensify the security around here, I'm proud of it." I scoffed. "It kind of scares me that we managed to get out so easily and so quickly. They got to us pretty quickly, which was good, but we never should've been able to get out in the first place, right?"

"We are still heavily down in numbers when it comes to dhampirs, Kai." Dan explained. "They try their best to assign enough guardians to each Academy and have enough at Court and that's not counting the dozens who need to be assigned to royals. It's only understandable that they have at least two guards per gate."

"You'd gained their trust." Drew pointed out. "That was one of the main reasons why you managed it so easily. They never would've expected you to drug them."

"Oh dear… have I ruined the trust that the guardians had for me?" I groaned. "Man, and I thought I did pretty well considering I've only been here a week or so."

"I'm pretty sure you'll repair that pretty soon so long as you don't go trying to trick people again."

"Well I hope so. I liked having their trust. It made things so much more… comfortable around here."

The three of us jumped when we heard the door slam open and we turned to see the Dragomir twins stroll in with scowls on their faces. "Why didn't you two say that you guys were taking over the lesson with Kai?" Jacks complained.

"It's not fair that you two get to snatch so much of her time." Quinn added.

"Gee, it's not that big of a deal, you know." I scoffed.

"You owe us a lunch by the way." Jacks told me as he casually slid onto the table beside me.

"Really? But we've already had breakfast and the break out, don't those count?" I reasoned.

"No way are we letting you talk yourself out of it," the twins chimed.

"Or are you too scared to be with us?" Jacks teased.

"Don't be stupid, I have nothing to be scared of." I scoffed, rolling my eyes at him.

"Hey, what do you guys say to having a library session tonight with the girls?" Dan asked them, going back to what we'd talked about at the start of the lesson.

"You're having a library session? Why?" Quinn frowned in distaste.

"The girls haven't caught up on the work yet." I explained. "I hope you don't mind."

"I don't particularly mind it." Quinn shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just, I don't enjoy being surrounded by so many books."

"Well then we'll pick a big table by the window, how about that?" I compromised.

"Only if you promise to bring food. I can't handle work without food." Jacks added.

"Anything else?" I asked, arching my brows at the twins.

"Nope, we're satisfied now," they chimed.

"Gee, I've never met anyone with such an aversion to libraries before." I grumbled.

"How can you handle them? They're so quiet, no food, no drinks, surrounded by a bunch of old books and you can't talk properly." Quinn complained.

"Quietness isn't necessarily a bad thing, Quinn." I drawled. "You don't have to fill every moment with some kind of sound."

"What is wrong with you, woman?" they chimed again.

I smacked them both in the arm and pouted. "There's nothing wrong with liking a bit of peace and quiet every now and then."

"Silence is awful." Jacks grimaced in distaste.

"Well, from the amount you guys talk, I'm not surprised." I scoffed. "Okay, since you two are both here, I'm going to butt in on some family issues here. What is up with you and Trace?"

Things seemed to freeze as I'd thought it might and I watched them carefully as the shocked expressions settled on the twin's faces. I waited patiently for them to give a response and Drew and Dan stared at me in surprise. Their expressions basically screamed: 'You're doing this now?'

"How much do you know?" Jacks murmured eventually.

"Just that you guys are siblings and that Trace seems to have a strange fear of you two even though I can't think why." I told them. "I've been trying to think up a reason since yesterday and nothing came to mind. You two don't seem the type to make people fear you, much less little kids."

Quinn sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "It was our fault to begin with. We just didn't know how to receive Trace the way he deserved."

"We were angry. So angry. Our mother had just passed away not even three months, and then dad's old love was welcomed into the family straight away. We didn't harbour any hard feelings against her. She was a lovely woman, don't get us wrong."

"But it was just so hard for Dad to be with someone again so soon. Then two months later, they announced that she was expecting."

"I remember that." Dan butt in. "You two were a wreck and were rarely home at all. You guys stayed at mine most of the time and you didn't go home until after the birth."

"You guys are such idiots." I told them bluntly. They shot me a glare but didn't argue because they knew it too. "So, what happened with Trace?"

"At first, we didn't really do anything."

"Which was the problem."

"We never made any effort with him at all and avoided him since we thought that if we were too close we might accidentally take our anger out on him and hurt him."

"Then things got worse and worse and because we cared about him, we were often rather harsh towards him."

"A little while ago, he got hurt because of us and instead of worrying about his injury like we should've done, we got angry that he was there and put himself in danger. I think we shouted at him."

"Now, whenever we see him, we just don't know how to respond and apologise because he's already so wary of us."

"He probably hates us now."

"You two are a bunch of idiots." I told them again. "But I can understand how things have gotten this way. I knew you two cared about the kid."

"How do you know Trace so well?" Quinn asked, glancing at me curiously.

"During the game last week, I had to get a signature from Castile who was at the elementary school at the time and Trace latched onto me. He grew on me." I explained, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "Trace is really cute…"

"Hey, don't go stealing our brother from us." Jacks warned.

"If you two don't smarten up and sort this situation out, I just might." I threatened. "Trace deserves to know that you two could be real nice brothers."

"Could we be good brothers for him after what's happened?"

I glared at the stupid twins and scowled. I couldn't believe they were being so dumb and ridiculous. "If you two don't start toughening up damn soon I'm going to beat the crap out of you."

"Why? What've we done wrong?" they demanded indignantly.

"You're being stupid and ridiculous and that's only going to hurt Trace even more. You're meant to be older and more mature so act like it!" I paused and took a deep breath to stop from raising my voice. "He thinks that you two hate him and that makes him less likely to approach you two. You're a family, please _be_ a family." I pleaded with yearning.

How much I would give to have my family with me. Would I have ever had siblings if my parents had been alive for longer? I would never know that, but I did know that I didn't want to see the rift between them become any bigger. Families were meant to be treasured, especially when Trace was such a darling little kid and the twins obviously cared for the boy.

The twins glanced at me with widened eyes before they both suddenly tugged me into a tight hug. I choked as I was suddenly squished between the two and somehow managed to get my head out and rested on a shoulder. I sneezed as a loose strand of hair tickled my nose. Drew smirked in amusement and kindly tucked the loose strand behind an ear and I smiled gratefully at him. If he hadn't done that, I would probably be sneezing a few more times.

"This is a touchy subject for you, isn't it?" Quinn murmured against my hair.

"Sorry." Jacks whispered.

"Don't worry about it." I reassured them. "So long as you two get the point."

"We do," they murmured.

"Did you have siblings, Kai?" Quinn asked tentatively.

"No." I told them honestly. "But I've always wondered if I might have and what it might have been like."

Suddenly, another weight joined the hug and I peeked over to find Dan joining in with the hug. "It's alright, Kai. We'll adopt you!"

I spluttered with laughter. If they knew who I really was, would they say the same thing? It was a nice gesture though and twisting my head, I somehow managed to plant a sloppy kiss on Dan's cheek. "Cheers, Dan, but I think I'd go insane if you were my brother."

"It won't be that bad," he protested.

"You say that now." I scoffed. "But really, thanks for the thought. I appreciate it."

"The offer will always stand. Our parents will love you." Dan told me plainly, completely unabashed.

"Aunt Tessa will turn your wardrobe inside out, Kai." Jacks chuckled.

"So you're coming to the dinner." Quinn stated rather than asked.

"They didn't really give me a choice to say no." I grumbled. "How rude would I be if I actually declined an invitation made by four royal families? I may be daring, but I'm not that stupid."

All three of them released me at the same time and I hadn't been expecting it so naturally I fell forwards. My lower back tingled when I felt warm fingers on my bare arms and I glanced up at Drew gratefully for catching me. The tingling was a weird sensation and I didn't know what it was. It made me want to shiver but I managed to repress the urge, just barely. He went so far as to help steady me back up and he gave me a playful wink. In return, I smacked his arm.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind and I gave the twins a mischievous grin. Just as Drew released my arms from having balanced me, I felt him stiffen slightly and I briefly glanced at him in puzzlement. He looked normal but I could see something gleaming in his eyes, a strange sense of recognition and I wondered why that was.

"I don't like that look." Quinn gulped.

"What are you thinking?" Jacks narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me.

"Well, I just thought of a perfect idea to help get things back on track 's all." I told them simply. "You two are going to invite Trace to the dinner."

They stared blankly at me for a couple of heartbeats before their eyes widened in shock. "What?" they shouted with such identical voices of shock that I almost couldn't differentiate between the two.


	44. Chapter 43

**_~x~ Chapter 43 ~x~_**

Throughout the rest of the time until my extra lesson ended, we discussed how we were going to help the twins change their relationship with little Trace and guide it towards a more friendly direction. I noticed how ever now and then, Drew would sneak a look at me and it was that same strange gleam of recognition. I did my best not to let it get to me and just pretended that I didn't notice. There was no way that I was going to confront him about it because chances were, he would manage to force the truth from my mouth and I definitely did not was him finding out any time soon.

Once the two hours were up, which passed a lot faster than usual since it wasn't actually a lesson, the others suggested that the sooner we got started on the work the better. Knowing us, we would take forever since we were all rather easily distracted. I agreed with the idea and left my books with the twins while I headed off back to the dorms to find the three dhampir girls. It didn't really matter if they had anything planned or not. I knew that as soon as I mentioned the royals would be there, they'd definitely join me in the library no matter what they had in mind.

As I walked through the school, passing the corridors that I recognised so well, I couldn't help but think that I was definitely getting better. For one thing, I was no longer thinking with a depressed mind set about the fact that my parents were no longer here at the academy with me. I still had two years in this place. It'd be a foolish thing not to try and make the most of those two years. There was so much I could learn, so much fun to be had.

I gasped when a hand suddenly latched onto my arm and instinctively I lashed out at the person. Eric stumbled back a few paces when my fist struck his shoulder and he released me. I was confused when a satisfaction slithered through me. Why would I be feeling satisfied that I managed to hit him? Maybe it was because he had an eerie ability in avoiding my hits and rendering me helpless. No matter the reason, I was at his side in an instant, watching him with an apologetic gaze.

"Sorry about that, old habits die hard." I told him earnestly. Despite the satisfaction I felt, I was sorry for hitting him hard enough to force him to stumble backwards.

I was surprised by the glimmer of fury that flashed across his eyes for a brief moment before it disappeared and was replaced by a playful gleam that always seemed to settle in his eyes. There was something else there as usual, a strange gleam of possessiveness and something else that I couldn't name. I'd always noticed it before but had ignored it as something to do with his pride, but I began to wonder if that was a mistake.

I stepped back when he approached me with a somewhat predatory movement and amusement shone in his eyes at my reaction. Silently I cursed as my back pressed up against the granite base of one of the statues. Thinking about where I was, I knew that it was one of the statues of St. Vladmir, the founder of this Academy.

His hands rested on either side of my head and his body was unnecessarily close. In the back of my mind, I wondered what had made me agree to this ridiculous compromise we had going. Eric wasn't my type. I didn't know what my type was, but an overly hands on type of guy who was constantly pushing me against something was definitely not it.

"Hello, Kylie," he murmured huskily.

"Hey, Eric." I replied casually, brushing his huskiness aside. "What's up?"

"I heard that you weren't particularly nice to one of my friends."

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Jayce."

"Ah, the not-so-nice Moroi bullying one of my friends."

"You're friends with Christian Chance?"

I frowned at the hint of disgust in his tone but didn't comment. "And if I was?"

"I just didn't think that you hung out with that kind of person but I'm not judging."

"If you weren't judging, then you wouldn't say it."

He ignored me and carried on. I didn't like that much. "Jayce wasn't very happy, he was complaining about it for hours."

"His mistake, he can face the consequences himself. Or is he such a baby that he can't handle his fights himself and has to get a big bad wolf to do the talking for him?"

"Big bad wolf?" he drawled. "Is that what I am?"

"Am I wrong?"

"Then that would make you red riding hood."

"Hm, I've always had a thing for the colour red." Which was true, it was my hair colour. I either hated it because it resembled blood, or I loved the colour because it was so beautiful.

"I could imagine you wearing a pretty little red cloak and dress. Perhaps I should organise a fairy tale themed party."

"Isn't that a little clichéd?"

"Most good themes are."

"Hm, point taken."

"What are you doing?"

"Going to get the girls so that we can head off to the library to catch up on our work. We're drowning in it."

"Can't you wait half an hour? I could help you guys."

"Why half an hour?"

He chuckled and began to brush the back of his hand across my cheeks and his thumb swept across my lips softly. "I would've thought that that was obvious, Kylie. I haven't seen you much at all since our relationship started and I want some time together with just us two alone."

"We don't have a relationship, Eric." I told him firmly. "We have a strange compromise."

"Nonetheless you are mine for the time being, that was the deal."

"Relationships aren't deals." I narrowed my eyes at him. "I would stay, but the quartet has already saved us a seat."

He frowned in confusion and paused in his caress of my face. "The quartet?"

"Ozera, Dan and the twins."

Surprise shone in his eyes before they narrowed slightly. "I didn't realise you were so close with the royals. They've never been like this before."

"I didn't sleep with them, if that's what you were thinking." My voice hardened and I pursed my lips.

"I wouldn't make the same mistake as Nick, I assure you. I know that you wouldn't have slept with them. You have more pride than that."

"Damn right." I scoffed. "O'Connor was being ridiculous."

"He's rather predatory with his popularity."

"There are better ways to remain popular. At the rate he's going, he's heading for a serious downward spiral."

"Perhaps you should point that out to him, otherwise he wouldn't admit it to himself."

"I could, but he'd have to prove that he deserves the advice first."

"Come with me, Kylie," he urged, his voice lowering an octave. His other hand reached lower and hooked around my waist so that he pressed me up against him. Shock coiled through me when I felt his arousal and I gave a soft gasp. My eyes snapped up to meet his just as his head dipped and caught my lips in a burning kiss.

This was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I'd shared a fair number of kisses before, a couple with Eric, and none of them had ever felt like this. This wasn't the usual mind numbing or searing kiss that reduced a girl to mush. This was something quite different. It was more wilful and a little strange.

As his tongue curled around mine, warning slithered through me and I shivered. He pressed me harder against the base of the statue and he ground into me, a low growl grumbling from deep in his throat.

"Come with me," he whispered in between kisses.

"I can't," I breathed. I felt like he was literally stealing the breath out of me and I didn't have the strength to push him away. "Eric, stop." Kiss. "Eric." Nope still not stopping. I tried to push harder against his shoulders to get my point across. "Let me go."

"Half." Kiss. "An." Kiss. "Hour." His lips trailed down towards my neck and he sucked so hard that it was actually painful. It took me a moment to realise that he hadn't just sucked, he'd bitten. It wasn't hard enough to draw blood but the intention was there nonetheless. Shock slammed into me brutally and this time I did find the strength to shove him away as adrenaline rushed through me.

Anger and fury rose but as soon as I looked into his gleaming eyes, it dissipated instantly and I crumbled. For once in a long time, I didn't know what I was feeling. In fact, I didn't even know if I was feeling anything at all. I watched as he approached and just simply stared. He was about to pick me up into his arms when a familiar voice called out and I snapped out of it.

"Valentine?" I knew that voice.

"Guardian Jenson." Eric greeted with a polite nod of his head.

"Eric, good to see you. How did you find yesterday's training?" Crispin asked conversationally but I saw him glance at me with a mixture of surprise and concern.

"It was delightful," he replied and I sensed a double meaning in that. "I got an opportunity to spar against our new prodigy here."

"Speaking of Valentine, I'm going to have to borrow her." Crispin stated with a stern tone. "Valentine, I want to discuss about your training schedule."

"Sure thing." I murmured a little breathlessly and I coughed. "Let's go, Guardian Jenson." This time my voice was a little more solid and almost back to normal. "See you around, Eric."

"Oh you can be sure of that, Kylie." There was something strange in his voice again but I didn't know what that was. Without saying anything more, I followed Crispin away from Eric and neither of us spoke until we turned a corner and neared the dhampir dorms.

"What was that back there?" he asked, crossing his arms.

I blushed and looked away from him in embarrassment. "Uh… sorry you had to catch us like that…"

"I've seen countless couples making out without a care in the world, Valentine." Crispin stated bluntly. "That wasn't what I meant. Why were you on the ground?"

"My knees buckled." Well it wasn't a lie but it wasn't exactly the truth either and the withering look he gave me said that he didn't believe a word of it. "I don't know." I grumbled eventually.

"You don't know?" he asked softly, voice full of worry. "Isn't that bad?"

"I'm still trying to work it out. Anyway, let's discuss the schedule. I'm not exactly used to talking about this kind of thing amongst friends let along a grown up and a guardian."

"I didn't actually pull you away to discuss the schedule. You just looked like you wanted to get out of there so I lied."

I stared at him in surprise for a few seconds before I burst into laughter. "I knew I liked you for a reason." I wheezed as I tried to catch my breath. "Thanks for that, Guardian Jenson."

"If you'd like, you can just call me Crispin."

I stiffened and sobered instantly. I looked up at him with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. He just sighed and ran a hand through his hair which made me narrow my eyes at him in suspicion even more. "Was that a guardian speaking?" I almost growled but managed to refrain, just barely.

"That was me trying to make things a little more comfortable considering you call everyone else by their given names."

I thought about what he was talking about for a moment before I understood and I relaxed. Looking at him again, he looked so honest and sincere that I had to believe him. "Only if you don't mind."

"I wouldn't be suggesting it if I did," he scoffed. "But only when we're not in public, just like the others."

"I know, otherwise we'd cause a large bundle of rumours and I certainly don't need any more of those."

"We should probably talk, Valentine," he suggested. "Otherwise, you'd be giving me suspicious looks forever."

"I wouldn't do that _all_ the time." I protested.

"Maybe not, but I'd rather avoid it completely."

"We do need to talk." I agreed wholeheartedly, because we really did. "Perhaps tomorrow, in our training? Joey would be there and we could just ask him nicely to shove off for a little bit while we talked. Either that or end our training a little earlier and then just talk afterwards if you aren't too dead."

"Thanks," he said dryly. "That's a good idea. Are you heading off somewhere?"

"Going to get the girls so we could go to the library and catch up on our work."

"Ah, the break out finally catching up on you guys, huh?"

"It's so unfair, the quartet have all caught up so why haven't us four?"

Confusion flickered for a moment as he pondered before realisation dawned and he chuckled. "Maybe it's to do with the fact that the four royals are at the top ten consistently?"

"They're all geniuses?" I gaped in disbelief. I'd known that Drew was at the top, but I didn't think that all four of them were. Geez, they weren't revered as the four prodigies for no good reason…

"They care about their studies."

"I care!"

"Do you?"

He pinned me with another unconvinced stare and I huffed. "Okay, maybe not as much but I do care for my reputation's sake. I don't want to be an academic drop out if I can help it. That would be embarrassing."

He chuckled and ruffled my hair. "You have great teachers around you, use them."

"Oh I intend to. The quartet is helping us with our work so that we can get it done faster."

"Why do you call them the quartet?"

"It's boring to call them the royals since everyone else does and I don't really want to call them royals for various reasons." I explained. "So I decided to choose something a little more original."

"Your secret being one of the reasons?"

"Sort of." I nodded. "Being identified as 'the royal' isn't really a nice feeling. Being labelled anything often isn't, but it's annoying to have to say all four of their names all the time since they're usually together so it was easier giving them an impartial name which works."

"I quite like it, the quartet. That applies to you and the three girls as well. Before, they were a trio and now they have become a quartet with you joining them."

"The quartet duo." I gloated proudly. "That has a nice ring to it."

"That it does," he laughed. "If you have already made arrangements for work then you'd better get to it otherwise you'd never get to the library."

"Thanks for helping me out earlier, Crispin." I told him earnestly. "See you around."

"Don't mention it and stay safe."

"Oh I will." I reassured him. "And feel free to call me however you want. The others have so many different variations of my name, another one wouldn't hurt. Just keep it away from public ears."

"Rest assured, I won't be the reason it becomes exposed, Val," he scoffed.

"Val?" I ran it over in my mind a few times and grinned. "I like it."

He chuckled and ruffled my hair again. "Good, because it's sticking."

"See you around."

I gave a little wave before heading into the dorms. In record time, I made it upstairs and strolled into my room first to get my books. Once organised, I stepped across the corridor and knocked on their rooms. Els opened the door with a lollipop in her mouth and I grinned at her.

"Yo, pack your stuff up guys. We're heading to the library."

"Since when?" Roxy called out from her spot on the bed.

"Since fifteen minutes ago when the quartet agreed to help us finish up our work."

"The quartet?" Ingrid pondered.

"In your words, the four royals." I explained bluntly. "Now let's go, or do you want to keep them waiting? Personally, I'd rather get this stuff out of the way as soon as possible so I can chill again."

"The four royals are helping us?" Els balked.

"Is that bad?"

"No, Kai." Roxy scoffed. "It's brilliant!"

"Glad we agree, now let's go." I urged, gently pushing Els back into her room so that she could get her stuff together.

"Please tell me you brought food." Jacks demanded as soon as he saw us approach.

"I wouldn't dream of trying to work without food." I scoffed and placed my bag of snacks on the table they'd kindly reserved for us. It took us nearly five minutes to find them since the library was so big and there were so many floors. We were on the second landing in the history section. They'd gotten a large table by the window and I casually tugged Dan out of his seat so that I could sit beside the window. "Sorry but I prefer to be by the window."

"Don't worry about it," he laughed. "You're the one working so you need more comfort."

"You guys better help or else this might take forever." I warned him.

The other three tentatively sat themselves at the table and the guys scattered so that we were all mixed up forcing the girls to be a little more normal. They were a little awkward at first, I noticed, but then they began loosening up and ogled at the guys a little less. I smiled a little at that. It was reassuring to see that they were capable of being normal around a royal. It gave me hope that once my secret was exposed, I wouldn't be feel so lonely like some revered legend or something. It gave me hope that everything would be okay.

I noticed Drew watching me carefully across from me and I blinked at him. "I know you said I was interesting, Ozera, but staring at me like that is going to get old pretty soon."

Amusement gleamed in his eyes and he scoffed. "Somehow, I doubt that. What were you thinking about? You were watching them with a strange look."

"I just think it's nice that those three have come out of their shell and stopped being so reserved around you guys. It felt a little awkward, after all."

Drew looked away from me briefly so he could observe the six of them and a smile stretched across his face. "I see what you mean. We were wondering how long it would take those three to get settled and not take too much notice of our status."

"The initial awkwardness is of course to be expected. After all, you guys spent your time up till now not really interacting so much but then bam suddenly we're one gigantic bundle."

"And it was all thanks to you." Drew told me honestly. "If it weren't for you not caring our statuses so much, I doubt they would've ever pushed our differences aside."

"What can I say? I don't think that someone should be solely judged by the family they come from but rather more from what they're really like."

"It's a good outlook."

"I know and I'll stand by it."

"It's going to get you into trouble, one day."

"It already has, Marissa being the prime example." I scoffed.

"I suppose everything does have its disadvantages."

I thought about it for a moment and agreed. "There probably isn't anything that doesn't have a down side of some sort. Then again, I usually only ever notice the disadvantage after I'd made the choice."

He gave me another one of his strange looks again. "Is that referring to something in particular or just in general?"

"You're being creepily probing again." I said pointedly before replying to his question. "In the general sense."

"You seemed a little more comfortable than usual so I thought I'd take my chances." Drew gave me a sly grin and rested his chin on his palm.

"Are you going to help me with my work at all or are you just going to analyse me some more?" I asked before he went any deeper with his questions and I slipped up. Slipping up with just him around would be horrific enough, but with the whole gang here, I didn't even want to think about the consequences of that.

He gave me a devilish smirk that made my heart stop and winked. "I can multitask."

* * *

_**I hope you've all liked it and please R&R! Wait for the next chapter to find out what happens with Trace!**_

**_Lyn xx_**


	45. Chapter 44

**_~x~ Chapter 44 ~x~_**

Damn Drew and his versatility.

He wasn't kidding when he said that he could multitask. One minute we'd be going through our assigned work, the next he'd so casually drop in another personal question when none of the others were listening. He could definitely multitask better than I could. I was no good at focusing on two completely unrelated things at the same time but he made it seem easy the way he skipped from one thing to another. Thankfully, I wasn't so engrossed in my work that I accidentally answered any questions I shouldn't have.

As the other girls became more relaxed around the quartet, we didn't manage to finish our work by the time dinner came up. We were still only just over halfway through since we still had today's assignments to deal with. Not to mention the dozens of distractions we had by going completely off topic and joking around.

While we all headed to the dining hall together, leaving our books neatly in the library on our reserved table, I couldn't help observe the new friends I had around me. Being around them was different to when I was out in the human world, which was to be expected considering we were all vampires, but the feel about it was just slightly different. It was nice to be able to connect with people so quickly and to feel so comfortable around them even though I was hiding such a big secret. I decided not to worry about how they'd react anymore and just focused on being comfortable.

Dinner was… Well it was just dinner, until I remembered that I was due to serve my 'punishment' at the elementary school and instead of going alone, I dragged the Dragomir twins with me. A strange sense of security settled over me with them around. I wasn't sure why that was, especially when I knew that I could take care of myself just fine. I decided not to dwell on it and amusingly enough, I actually had to prevent the twins from running away. They were so nervous about having to face Trace that they looked really uncomfortable and somewhat menacing as a result.

"You know, guys. If you go in looking like that, you're not just going to scare little Trace away but all the other kids." I warned them. "Get rid of that scowl right now."

"We're not scowling," they chanted.

"You really are." I told them flatly. "Don't argue, just do it. Relax. Trace won't run unless you give him a reason to."

"He hates us."

"He doesn't." I stated firmly. "He thinks you hate him. It's a vicious cycle, a very horrible one for the three of you."

"He doesn't hate us?"

"Kids don't tend to really hate because they don't know enough to be able to sustain that strong of an emotion. You two have serious trust issues." I grumbled. "Though, since you are royals, that's understandable."

They both stared at me for a lengthy moment. "How do you understand so much? Are you really not some wise old lady?"

"Do I look like an old lady to you?"

"Looks can be deceiving."

"Sure, but are you going to let distrust come between you and the world? Trusting no on but each other?"

"We're very cautious."

"No doubt with good reason, so am I. But that doesn't mean I keep everyone away from me so stop being ridiculous."

"We're not being ridiculous."

"You are." I told them, pausing to choose my words right. "Trust in Trace and his behaviour. He's family and only just a kid. You'll repair things in no time, but only if you try." I let them think about it for a moment before continuing. "So, are we going to step forward and do this or are you guys going to be stuck in the same place for the rest of your life?"

Jacks and Quinn took a deep breath, looked at each other, before taking my hands. "It's all or nothing." Jacks grumbled.

"It isn't." I told him softly. "It's only the first step."

"But it will get better." Quinn murmured, finally getting it.

"Yes it will. Trace is a lovely kid. When he sees that you two aren't scary and menacing, he'll love you."

"Let's hope so."

"Your dad won't mind him joining us, right?"

"Not at all." Quinn shook his head.

"Of course he won't." Jacks scoffed. "If anything, he'd be delighted that Trace isn't avoiding us."

The two tensed when we entered the block and I gave both of them a gentle encouraging nudge. They were even worse when we got to the common room where I knew Trace would be. Ali was there as well and I gave him a grin.

"Yo, Guardian Castile." I greeted with a playful salute.

"Here again?" he retorted, feigning surprise.

"Detention, remember?"

"For your insane break out."

"Kylie!" Trace cheered when he heard my voice and appeared from another room. He was on his way running towards me but stopped abruptly when he saw his bothers.

"Hey, Trace." I called back to him with a reassuring tone. He eyed them warily as he slowly made his way towards me. I crouched down and tugged him for a tight hug, snuggling my face into the crook of his neck. "I've missed you."

He giggled and pushed my face away to give a soft kiss on my cheek. He wrapped his arms around my neck and glanced at his brothers in a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

The twins hesitated for a moment, simply staring back at the kid before Quinn finally spoke, breaking the ice. "Are you having fun, Trace?"

Instead of replying to their question, Trace seemed to take a different route and changed the direction of the conversation completely. "Can you marry Kylie?" he chirped. "That way, she can be my sister! I want Kylie to be my sister."

The room fell silent and I nearly dropped Trace from shock but the twins caught him and the four of us were caught in a strange type of hug.

"Well…" Jacks drawled playfully, glancing down at me.

"We could." Quinn finished.

"Oh hush. We're too young to be considering marriage and I've only known you two for a week."

"A week and a day and we spent a weekend together." Jacks pointed out smartly.

"So that accounts for a month at least." Quinn teased.

"Please, Kylie." Trace pleaded innocently. "I want to see you all the time."

"Trace, I'll be around for a long time and I don't have to marry your brothers just to see you. Haven't I been coming to see you every day already?" I told him placatingly before speaking with a more playful and teasing voice. "Besides, are you sure you want me to marry your scary and mean brothers?"

Trace glanced up at the duo before a pensive expression settled. "Hm… they don't look very mean and scary."

"They don't, do they?" I chirped.

"Are you stronger than them?" he asked innocently.

"Well…" I trailed off. "I suppose you could say that. I bet you could take them on, Trace."

He gave a shy but fervent shake of his head and snuggled against me. "I couldn't," he mumbled.

"I have an idea, why don't we ask them to show us a few magic tricks?" I suggested, glancing over at Ali for permission.

"Only if we're outside. They'll kill me if we break anything." Ali told me sternly. I shot him a glance, wondering when he started to care about breaking things. Before, he would rarely ever care about damage costs since I used to be the voice of reason back then. "Guardian Belikov is really strict about these things. If something breaks on my watch, more often than not, she'll deduct it from my pay check," Ali explained in response to my stare.

My mouth formed an 'o' shape of understanding. "I see… Well, if anything needs mending and it's my fault, I'll reimburse you."

"Since when does a girl pay for a guy?" Jacks scoffed indignantly, stepping out of our strange hug. "It's not right."

"Since said girl is richer by a mile, Jacks." I retorted bluntly. "Who are you? Some renaissance gentleman?"

"Romance is lost on you?" Quinn commented with surprise as he pulled away to stare at me.

I smacked him and pouted. "It isn't, if you must know. I just don't like people paying for me unless I earned it. Take Jenson and Maxwell for example. We compromised that every time they ask for my help with training, they have to buy me stationary."

"Of all the things to ask for, why stationary?" Jacks grimaced in distaste.

"Because I love it. Most of my money is spent on books, music, food and stationary. I call it by 'bribe quartet'."

"Bribe quartet?" the twins teased. "It's a good name."

"How often do you get bribed for you to have a name for it?" Ali asked incredulously.

"It happens." I shrugged, keeping my answer brief to preserve my secret of being a singer. The number of times my manager bribed me to do a campaign, advert or photoshoot was innumerable and I'd only been in the business for a year, and just barely.

"So, how do you calculate?"

"Kylie…" Trace whined. "Magic tricks."

"Ah, of course." I laughed and kissed his cheek. "Shall we go outside?"

"Just fifteen minutes." Ali interjected. "I don't want the kids catching the morning chill."

"Yes, Guardian Castile." I saluted before putting Trace down. I wasn't accustomed to carrying a child for long periods of time and my arms were beginning to ache. "Let's go!"

I was just as excited to see this as the kids were. It'd been so long since I'd seen real magic tricks and I was curious to know what kind of combinations the twins could do if any at all. If I remembered rightly, they were water and earth, with Trace as fire. Ali snuck up behind me and gave me a discreet kiss on the top of my head when no one was looking.

"Hey," he murmured.

"Yo." I grinned in response to his greeting.

"How are you feeling?"

"Worked out." I scoffed. "The quartet is helping with our work, but if anything, they're making our pace slower since we all get distracted far too easily. But it's fun so it's worth it."

"Quartet?"

"The four royal guys."

"You gave them a name?"

"Why not? Everyone else calls them the royal prodigies."

"That's because they are."

"Well they're a quartet as well so what's wrong with the name?"

Ali paused, trying to come up with an answer but managed nothing. "I see you haven't broken your habit of giving things weird names?"

"Nope, most definitely not. It's too much fun to give it up."

"You know it's going to get you into trouble one of these days."

"I'll apologise when it happens but it depends on if the situation calls for it. If they deserve it, I'm not apologising."

"You and your big mouth."

"You were worse."

"I was not."

"Yes you were." I told him bluntly. "You used to call all the royals 'greedy and pretentious bastards' and all the teachers were the 'devil's spawn' if I recall rightly."

Ali blanched and glanced away in defeat. "Your memory is too good."

"Only for things that matter."

"Those things didn't matter."

"Of course they did. You're in those memories and that makes them matter." He glanced down at me with another one of his intense stares again and I blinked up at him innocently. "What?"

"You say the most amazing things sometimes."

"I say amazing things all the time." I corrected proudly. "Sometimes it just takes other people a little while to understand the value of the things I say."

"You may have a point there."

"Don't I usually?"

"You really have developed a smart tongue."

"In many ways, dearest Alster." I grinned cheekily and winked.

"Hey, Kai! You're not being told off or something, are you?" Jacks called to me from a few yards away when he noticed that I was at the back of the group with Ali.

"Don't be ridiculous." I called back. "I haven't done anything, yet."

"There's no yet." Ali scoffed. "No causing havoc tonight, at least rest a little before you do anything crazy again."

"You're no fun." I pouted before dashing over to where the kids formed a large circle around the twins in the courtyard.

"I'm going to need a bucket of water." Quinn commented.

"There's a pipe and hose a few steps behind you." Ali told him, pointing into the darkness.

Quinn squinted and tried to see it but it was too dark. I watched with a warm smile as Trace headed over and conjured a small fireball so that Quinn could see it. Quinn smiled gratefully at Trace and I saw the small kid's eyes widen in surprise. As soon as Quinn turned the tap a little so that water began to trickle, Trace ran towards me and jumped into my arms.

"He smiled at me!" he beamed with delight.

"They love you Trace." I told him simply. "No doubt about that."

"I love them more."

"You should tell them that." I told him softly. "But first, let's watch their magic show."

We focused back on the twins and watched as strange figures appeared. Some were made of water, others were made of soil and rocks. Quinn and Jacks told an interesting story about how two different types of creatures with different strengths joined forces to fight a common enemy. I had a feeling that they were actually trying to subtly refer to Moroi and dhampirs working together but I saved the question for when the story was over. Individually, the two sides were strong, but together they were even stronger and could do so much more.

When it was finished, the kids erupted into cheers and surrounded the two of them, asking how they did that. Trace was the first to reach them, having jumped out of my arms as soon as it was over. I lingered around the back and stood beside Ali to watch the twins being swarmed by the kids. It was an amusing sight to say the least since they had no idea how to react. Before the kids started climbing over them, Ali clapped his hands together and said that everyone had to head back inside to get ready for bed.

The collective groan from the crowd of kids made me laugh and I smacked Ali's shoulder gently. "Good luck."

"You're not staying to help?" he asked, eyes widening in surprise.

"My time's up and I still have work due in tomorrow. I do not want Brooks breathing down my neck about the lack of completed work for his class."

"He still has it in for you?"

"He's a little better but as a teacher he's still as strict as ever." I scoffed.

"Jacks, Quinn, I'm going to head back to the library. You coming along or do you want to stay back and help Castile put the kids to bed?" I suggested, gesturing at Trace in particular with my eyes.

The two glanced at each other for a moment and got the hint. Wide smiles crossed their faces and Jacks picked a giggling Trace up into his arms. The trio approached me and I was surprised when all three kissed me. The twins kissed my cheek and Trace managed to kiss my nose. I had no idea how they managed such a thing, but they did and I blushed in response.

"You three are impossible!" I complained. "Trace, don't take after your brothers too much."

"They're the best." Trace declared proudly, snuggling against Jacks.

Happiness gleamed in the twin's eyes and I smiled softly at them. "Just keep at it." I told them. "See you tomorrow, Castile."

"And the same to you, Valentine." Ali nodded curtly in acknowledgement and I dashed off back to the library.

I found the other five of my friends huddled over the books at the same table as before and couldn't help but laugh at the intense concentration that was plastered on the three girls' faces. "Is the work really that hard?" I commented as I walked up to them.

"Speak for yourself." Els scoffed. "You're the one who was complaining about maths almost all night long yesterday."

"Hey, maths is boring and pointless." I said defensively.

"How did it go?" Dan cut in.

"Very well, I should say." I smiled in delight. "They're currently helping Castile to put the kids to bed, mainly Trace, of course. Trace proudly declared his love for his brothers too."

"What on earth did you do?" Roxy glanced at me in surprise.

I shrugged in response, a silly grin on my face. "Nothing. I just proved to Trace that those two aren't scary and that they love him. They gave a magic show and whoosh Trace's fear of their power vanished."

"Just like that?"

"Kids are easy to work with if you know how. It helped that Trace didn't actually hate the two. Trace was just scared and thought that they hated him. It was a silly cycle but now that the misunderstandings are cleared, it should be easier on the three of them."

"So did the twins invite Trace to dinner?" Drew asked.

I blinked at him for a moment before I smacked my forehead. "I didn't mention it. Maybe they'd remember as they tuck Trace into bed."

"Knowing those two, probably not." Drew scoffed. "Knowing them, they'll probably be too happy to remember anything."

"So we should expect goofy grins?"

"Most definitely."

"Kai." Els interjected.

"Yep?"

"Work."

I squealed as I suddenly remembered about the mountain of work I still had to do and scrambled over to the seat where my books were by the window. The others simply sighed in exasperation and we all managed to get bogged down in our work, at least, until the twins arrived three quarters of an hour later.

"Kai!" they chimed and a heartbeat later I found myself being suffocated. They were muttering 'thank you' over and over and I struggled to breathe.

"Guys…" I wheezed. "Can't… breathe…"

They loosened their grip instantly and sat down on either side of me. "Really, thank you."

"No problem." I told them simply. "So, it went well after I left?"

"Trace has been so lonely… Has he always cried when he slept?" Quinn asked, concern heavy in his voice.

"I'm not sure, but he was definitely crying both times I visited him." I nodded, remembering the last week I spent visiting Trace.

"We've been so stupid." Jacks grumbled.

"Glad you finally see it." Drew scoffed, smacking the both of them. "Took you guys long enough."

"What matters is that the misunderstanding has finally been cleared." Dan told them. "So, did you ask him about dinner?"

The twins stared at Dan before they both groaned and sagged in their seats. "No, we forgot." Jacks shook his head.

"We were so happy about being able to talk to Trace so normally without him flinching away from us that we completely forgot about it."

"What did I tell you?" Drew smirked victoriously. "Told you they'd forget."

"Alright, Mister Wise Guy." I scoffed. "We've got plenty of time to ask him. If you ask either Belikov or Castile, I'm sure they'd let you two see Trace whenever you want."

"You think so?" they chimed.

"Yeah. Belikov might be strict, but she loves the kids and Castile is an understanding person so he'd allow it."

"You sure do know them well." Drew commented, discreet suspicion in his tones but I could see it in his eyes.

"I can read people relatively well." I responded, giving nothing away. "Seriously, if you guys distract me anymore, I'll never get this work done and I don't want Brooks on my back!"

"Sorry," they murmured.

Thankfully, we still had two hours until our curfew to be back at the dorms and distractions were kept to a minimal. I somehow managed to finished all the work and catch up with the stuff I had left over from the weekend and by the time I finished, I was completely knackered, not physically but mentally.

"That was painful." I grumbled as my forehead slammed onto the table.

"It wasn't _that_ bad." Ingrid teased.

"You guys had extra time."

"Well, there is that."

Slowly, we packed stacked our books and tidied up the table before leaving the library.

"See you guys at breakfast." Dan managed to say before promptly giving a yawn.

"Good night." I nodded in agreement. "Let's hope you don't get attacked tomorrow morning."

"Try not to break another alarm clock." Drew retorted.

"I have to use my phone tomorrow until I get a new one. I won't dare to break my phone. My manager would probably have a heart attack."

"Have you got anything new coming up?" Roxy's eyes sparkled with interest.

I laughed and shook my head. "You'll just have to wait along with the rest of the world."

"Kai!" she whined.

"Nope, I'm not disclosing anything." I grinned cheekily. "Though I'm willing to compromise. If the lovely quartet here is willing to tell us where we're going, I might tell you something."

"That's not fair, Kai." Dan groaned.

"Sure it is. An eye for an eye."

"We're not allowed to say anything," the twins chimed.

"Our parents explicitly said that we had to keep it a secret." Drew explained.

"I don't want to face any of their wraths." Dan shuddered. "They're terrifying when they gang up."

"Can you at least tell us whether it's an album or a single?" Els urged.

I thought about it for a moment and pursed my lips. "The only thing I'm saying is it's released by Risqué rather than Vampire Guardians."

"Thank you, Kai!" The three girls cheered and hugged me.

"Is there going to be a music video?" Jacks asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea." I shrugged. "I leave that kind of decision to my manager."

"We'd better go otherwise we're all going to miss the curfew." Drew pointed out, glancing at his watch.

"Shit, there's only two minutes!" Quinn cursed. "See you guys tomorrow."

The eight of us split and we dashed back to our respective dorms. We managed to make it back just as Joe was closing the door and gasped for breath once we made it past the door.

"Just on time." Joe chuckled. "Valentine, a word?"

"I haven't done anything, honest." I replied automatically, making the other three girls laugh.

"See you tomorrow, Kai. Hopefully your phone won't be in shambles." Roxy giggled.

"I wouldn't dare throw my phone." I scoffed. "Good night guys."

Joe waited until the three girls had headed up the stairs before dragging me into the empty common room. He sat me down on the sofa and sat beside me.

"Okay, little sky. What's the deal between you and Cooper?"


	46. Chapter 45

_**Hey y'all! I'm so sorry about the long delay of updates but as I've mentioned on facebook, I've had exams to focus on and just haven't had the time to dedicate to writing an uploadable chapter but now exams are over and I can finally start updating again! I hope you like this chapter and don't forget to RxR when you're done!**_

**_Lyn xx_**

* * *

**_~x~ Chapter 45 ~x~_**

I blinked in surprise and saw the stern expression on his face. My cheeks warmed in embarrassment and I looked away. "Crispin spoke to you about that, didn't he?"

"He mentioned that things looked a little weird between you two. So, what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on. It's just a little weird, that's all."

"Weird how?"

"I haven't worked it out yet." I told him honestly. "But I do know that I need to break it off with him soon."

Joe watched me for a lengthy moment and took my hands in his. "Kai, the guy is decent and has a huge reputation. He's the most popular guy in school but…"

"But?"

"I might not have known you for the past six years, but I wouldn't have thought that he was your type. To be honest, we're all rather surprised about you and Cooper being a pair."

"We're not a pair." I explained to him. "We have a strange compromise going on."

"A strange compromise?"

"I'm not a saint, Joey. I'm just a girl who found it flattering that an attractive guy like Eric was interested. He asked me out after that senior training session Crispin had me help him with. Eric showed me the vampire version of the game Ghost and it was so much fun. I didn't want to have a serious relationship with him, I don't know him after all and he doesn't know anything about me, so we came to an agreement that this is some kind of an open relationship kind of thing I suppose where we're seeing each other but we're not going out. You get me?"

"So, you two aren't going out?"

"No, we're not." I told him firmly. "How can we when he doesn't even know the most important thing about me?"

"But you've gone out with boys before in the human community, no? And I doubt that you told them about being a vampire."

"Point taken." I grinned. "But that's a little different. With those boys, I knew that none of them would last and if it did I would tell them the truth eventually. But also, back then I didn't know whether I was going to be drawn back into this world or not. With this, I know for a fact that one day, the secret will be exposed and I have a strong feeling that it would be before graduation. It would take a miracle for this secret to be maintained for two whole years."

"Sooner or later, someone will work it out. One of the four royals would be first I reckon." Joe commented. "Drew is the most observant and you mentioned that he was already suspicious about your background. How suspicious is he, little sky? And tell me honestly. You were very hedgy about it yesterday."

"Honestly? I really have no idea. I know that he suspects I'm not who I say I am, but I don't know if he's actually worked it out yet or not. I have to say though, hats off to him, he's damn good at casually dropping questions to try and find out more. He really does love puzzles."

"How do you think he's going to react?" he asked tentatively. "I mean… he does kind of… well…"

"Idolise the lost Ivashkov princess?" I finished for him.

"Well, yeah…"

"I'm dreading it." I gave a heavy sigh. "I don't want to lose the relationship we have, but I'm really scared that I will. He makes me sound so much cooler than I really am and it's terrifying to think about how he's going to react."

"Because you know that it's not what he thought you were going to be?"

"I don't really know what he thinks I would've become by now, but I don't think I want to know either. That would just make it all the more difficult and horrifying."

"Are you scared that you might be disappointed?"

"It's not really about disappointment. It's more about the fact that he won't look at me in the same way. What I'm most scared about is the change of behaviour."

Joe seemed pensive for a moment before he suddenly smiled which confused me. Why was he smiling when we were talking about something so serious? He must've seen the confusion and irritation on my face because he shook his head at me. "Little sky, think about it. He already idolises you."

"Excuse me? He does not."

"Maybe not in the same way as crazy fans do, but he does respect you and anyone can see that. That's what makes you so famous across the Moroi circles, because Andrew Ozera respects you and it takes quite a lot to move that boy. But you? You've simply swept in and captured his attention and it makes others talk. If you were to hear him talking about 'Kylie Valentine', he would probably be saying similar things."

"You're kidding me."

"Deadly serious."

"No way!"

"Yes, little sky. You really have no idea the impact you've had on our lives, do you?"

"I knew I've changed things but… seriously? What? How? I haven't even done anything. Well, that's not entirely true but still, it's not enough to have captured his attention _that_ much, is it?"

Joe shrugged in indifference. "Who knows? What we do know is that he's definitely taken an interest in you, and if anyone were to ask him about you, he'd be speaking rather highly, similar to the lost Ivashkov princess."

"This is ridiculous."

"But it isn't, little sky. Think about it logically. It wouldn't change the way he behaves around you because it would be such a similar thing. He'd still respect you, still think you were a mystery and still think you're some kind of a celebrity that you are. Don't you see? You are the same as back then now so to those who know you, there won't be a change of behaviour. He doesn't need to suck up to you for more popularity and benefits because he has that already himself."

"Not to mention, he's not the type to think about merits like that." I scoffed.

"Exactly." Joe agreed. "If you want to think about merits, the only merit he would seek is to know more about you. He doesn't like not being able to understand things."

"That's a rather common hatred, don't you think?"

"He can be rather intense about it. Are you staying in tonight?"

"Yeah, I want to catch up on sleep before going back. Besides, my manager should be calling me at some point about work."

"Ah yes, the agreement. I'm glad you can continue to sing. I want to hear you live, little sky. It's not fair that Jenson has heard but I haven't."

"It's all to do with good luck." I laughed. "Don't worry, I promise to sing for you guys one day."

"One day soon?"

"Maybe." I winked. "Anyway, did you just want to talk about Eric? If so, I think I should probably head off to bed."

"Yeah, but just one more thing."

"Yip?"

"When did you start calling Crispin by his first name?"

"Today." I informed him. "He said something about wanting to make things more comfortable or something."

"I see…"

"You're not jealous, are you?" I teased.

"Jealous probably isn't the right word," he grimaced at the thought. "I'm surprised and a little intrigued. Crispin has always had a different view point to everyone else. He's a little like you actually so it's not really all that surprising for him to have told you to call him by his given name. But even so, you are still a student so it makes things a little curious."

"He said that it was partially to do with the fact that I called everyone else by their first names. Maybe he just didn't want to be so excluded. After all, you all definitely hold him in high regard and he's close friends with you, no?"

"He arrived not long after you left, he helped me get back on track." Joe smiled wryly. "He was my voice of reason and we've sort of been a pair ever since."

"Yeah, apparently you two are the Academy's renowned duo."

"Says who?"

"Aunty Jules."

"Juliet said that?"

"Yeah, and for her to have paid you such a big compliment, you'd better go thank her."

"I will."

I blinked in surprise. There was something different about his voice, something that I'd never noticed before. It wasn't anything bad, if anything, there was a slight softness in his voice all of a sudden and I look at him carefully. He stared back at me in confusion, probably wondering why I was scrutinising him. I didn't spot anything, but I knew that there was something different just now and I was sure that I would catch it again. When I did, I was going to work out what was different.

"Night, Joey."

"Night, little sky."

With that, I headed upstairs to my room and dumped my books on the table sloppily. A couple of the books fell off when I brushed past the table to head into the bathroom for a quick shower. Bending down to pick them up, I noticed a slip of folded paper in one of the fallen books and frowned. Picking it out and unfolding it, I saw a neatly written note.

"If the offer still stands," I read aloud. "Please come to the training salle we normally use at around 14:00. I'll be waiting, Christian."

I saw the phone number scribbled under his name and smiled. I was glad that he decided to take up my offer. I liked Christian, he was nice and I wanted to know him better. I was interested to know more about the kinds of things that had happened to him, when he realised that he preferred guys over girls, and what happened between him and Nick. I was rather curious to know what kind of nice deed Nick did to have such a nice guy at his side.

Hastily, I sent Christian a text saying that I would be there before dashing for the shower. I showered and washed my hair in record time in just under twenty minutes. Once done, I got ready for bed and checked my phone. I saw two texts, both were from Christian and both made me laugh. The first one read ~Who is this?~ the second ~Sorry, I was being stupid. This is Kylie, right? Please say it is…~

I sent a hasty reply, making sure to put my name at the end. Before I even put my phone down, it buzzed.

~Thank god!~ it read. Buzz. ~It would've been really awkward if I guessed wrong…~

~How often do you get texts from people not on your contact list saying they'll be there to train with you in the early hours of the morning?~

~Never… But it doesn't hurt to be sure.~

~Hm… fair enough. I heard you got caught last night by Valiere.~

~I explained that I was only washing up and that you had cooked. As kind as Guardian Valiere is, when she catches or finds out someone's been using her kitchen without her permission, she's terrifying.~

I scoffed in agreement knowing how scary Maria could get. ~Her being scary? She seems like such a motherly type.~

~Motherly? Hm, I can see that. Did you manage to finish your work?~

~Just about. How did you know my books were there?~

~I needed to return a book and wanted to get another one out. I finished dinner early so you guys weren't there. I spotted your pencil case and took advantage of the situation to slip a note. Sorry, I stole one of your pages from your notebook.~

~It's fine, but what were you going to do if I didn't have my books in the library?~

~Slip the note under you door.~

~How do you know what room I'm in?~

~Process of elimination. I know you're on the top floor and there was only one empty room up there before you arrived.~

~How were you planning to sneak up to the girl's floor?~

~Use the excuse of looking for Guardian Maxwell.~

~You really have it planned out.~

~Years of practice, Kylie.~

~I see… Good night, Christian. If you want me to turn up tomorrow, I'd better sleep now.~

~Good night, Kylie, and really, thank you.~

~You won't be thanking me when I kick your ass tomorrow.~

~If I get my ask kicked, at least I can pinpoint my weaknesses.~

~I'll be able to tell you most if not all your weaknesses within half an hour. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.~

~Good night, Kylie. Sleep well and sweet dreams.~

~Thank you, and you too, Christian.~

I set my alarm for an earlier time before placing it on my drawers by the bathroom door rather than on my bedside table. That way, I wouldn't accidentally destroy my phone. I was out for the count before my head even hit the pillow.

I must've moved really close to the edge of the bed throughout the night. When the alarm rang, I flinched, turned over intending to find the none-existent alarm clock, and fell off the bed. Squealing, I landed with a thud. I groaned and crawled over to my phone to turn it off. Curling up into a ball on the floor, I looked at the time and groaned again. The object buzzed and I opened the text.

~Good morning, Kylie.~

I didn't reply.

Instead, I got up and hastily washed up and got changed. I shoved a change of clothes into my sports bag for after our short training and headed out, making sure to leave a note on my door to say I'd gone on ahead and would meet them in the dining hall. The entire building was silent with the occasional snores when I passed the boys' floor. The girls had the top half and the boys had the lower floors. I wasn't sure why that was but that was just the way it was.

I hissed in bliss as the sun hit my face. If there was anything I regretted with coming back to the Academy was the lack of sun. I missed the warmth and the feel of the sun rays hitting my skin. I missed the healthy feeling of the sun so much. Maybe getting up 'early' wasn't too bad after all. Not if it meant I could enjoy the sun.

By the time I got there, Christian was going at the sand bags and I threw my bag towards the direction of the girls' changing room door.

"Morning." I yawned.

"Good morning, Kylie," he greeted. "You're not a morning person?"

"Not really." I grumbled, ruffling my hair before gathering the thick masses into a bundle and tying it messily with one of the hair ties I had around my wrist. "Have you stretched?"

"Yeah."

"Running?"

"A little."

"How much?"

"Here to the wall and back."

"Next time try the whole perimeter."

"That's… long…"

I shrugged. "It's optional."

He scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Of course it's not. Not if I want to improve."

I spent the next ten minutes stretching properly before focusing on Christian. "Okay, so how do you want to do this?"

"What do you propose?"

I pondered for a moment, wondering what would be best as our first training session together. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it would be best to work out his faults first and then work on getting rid of them. "For the next half hour, I want you to try to get me on the mat and keep me there for three whole seconds."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

I had to give him credit. He needed no more persuasion and seriously went for it. I could see the determination in his eyes as he lashed out at me. His fist whirled towards me and I knocked his arm, forcing the change of direction to his attack. Instead of losing contact, I latched onto his wrist firmly, tugging him towards me and lashed out with my palm. I smiled as he turned slightly, avoiding the hit and I released his wrist.

He wasted no time in going for it again. This time, his body slammed into me so hard it knocked the breath out of me. Instinctively, I threw him to the mat, slamming him harder than I'd intended to. I smiled apologetically at him as he wheezed. Pride gleamed in his eyes as he jumped back up straight away, looking unfazed when I knew for a fact that it had hurt. I generally knew what I could do and how much a strike would hurt when I made it.

For the next half an hour, we took turns attacking and defending. Whilst training, I took note of his faults and weaknesses which he should try to work on and when the time was up, I could tell that he was getting tired and carrying the fight any further would hurt his body. I simply stopped and held my hands out, palms facing him and he barely managed to stop himself short of punching me.

"Nice control." I commented, grinning from ear to ear. "That probably would've hurt if it hit."

"I'm sure it would've been nothing compared to the pain I'm feeling right now," he groaned, his arm falling back to his side.

"I think I can safely say that I'm a more experienced fighter than you are."

"I can tell. My body has pains to prove it too."

"Sorry."

"You're not really, are you?"

"I am, to an extent. You agreed to accept my help so I knew that you must've been prepared to have your ass handed to you to some extent. But even I have to say that there have been a few times when I may have hit you more than I'd intended to simply because you made me react that way."

"I made you hit me harder than you'd intended?"

"It means that there were moments when you were so good that I retaliated with equal strength without holding back."

"That was you holding back?" he asked, his eyes widening in disbelief.

I shook my head with a sigh at his reaction and took a seat. I could tell that we were in for a long conversation and decided to get comfortable on the mat. Christian saw what I was doing and followed suit, sitting beside me with his legs stretched out. "If you think that was the way I would fight against Strigoi, don't you think that I would be dead by now?"

"But…"

"They're lethal and almost incomparable. You can't fight like that against the amount of Strigoi I've taken down and expect to get out alive." I told him seriously. "You're a good fighter, Christian, you really are, but right now, you'd be lucky if you managed to get through one fight with a single Strigoi without passing out afterwards. You'd survive and taken him or her down, but if there was more than one, you'd most likely die."

"How many have you taken down on your own?"

"In one time?"

"In one time."

"You really want to know?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't."

"My record is four." His eyes widened even more and his mouth gaped open. "If your eyes widen anymore, your eyeballs are going to pop out."

"Four… on your own, with no help?"

"It's happened."

"More than once?"

"I think twice… or maybe it was thrice…" I trailed off lamely, losing count of just how many times I'd gotten into a group fight against Strigoi. Now that I thought about it, it really was a miracle that I was still alive.

"It's incredible that you know so much about how to fight Strigoi although you've been living in the outside world."

"That doesn't make any difference, after the first freak attack I went through, I got tracked down by a couple of alchemists who had to dispose of the aftermath and they explained some stuff to me. After that, it wasn't too hard to comprehend. Stake and behead them then incinerate them."

"You make it sound so… methodical…"

"That's because it is." I told him firmly. "Trust me, it wasn't easy at first and it still isn't. Stripping the life out of something's eyes is never going to be a pleasant experience, no matter how many times you do it."

I was startled when he suddenly took my face in his hands. He gazed meaningfully into my eyes and I stared back at him, feeling confused and intrigued at the same time. "They still haunt you, don't they? Your kills still haunt you."

I smiled grimly at him, giving a small nod. "Of course they do. No decent person wouldn't feel haunted for having blood on their hands even if it had been done for the greater good."

"Have… have you ever gone hunting?"

"No. Never. I think it's a disgusting and foul idea. Those who think of it as a game should be thrown into some kind of a correctional institute to sort their heads out."

"Kylie, sometimes, you really don't sound much like an outsider." Christian commented, looking at me oddly and fear coursed through me briefly. Christian couldn't have worked anything out yet. We'd barely spent any time together and I certainly didn't recall knowing him back when I was here as a kid.

"I'm just stating an opinion." I told him simply, trying to blag my way through it. "From a human perspective, do you think that it would correct to go hunt down criminals like some kind of a vigilante? Not all criminals are bad to the same degree. What if you ended up killing someone who'd only stolen once to save himself or his family?"

"Have you always analysed it like that?"

"It became a routine after my first."

"A routine?"

"After a kill, I always reflected on who they might have been before the change, whether they had really killed anyone yet, that kind of thing."

"How have you coped for so long?"

"By remembering that it was to protect my friends. The very idea that my friends might be killed by them is what kept me going."

"You sound like some kind of a knight."

"I'm not a knight. Just someone determined to protect those important to me."

"Is there much of a difference?"

"Knights tend to be really snobbish and chauvinistic and arrogant and they aren't very nice to women." I summed up in as few words as I could. In fact, there were a few other things I liked to say about knights, about their preposterous love for bloodshed and their love for plunder.

"You don't like knights?"

"I think they're overrated sometimes."

"You sound like romance is lost on you."

"Funnily enough, the Dragomirs said the same thing last night. Do I really give that kind of impression?"

"Considering how little I know you, I can't really give much of an opinion about something like that." Christian shifted awkwardly.

Suddenly, I was curious. "Then answer as someone who doesn't know me personally very well. What _is_ your impression of me? You do have one, don't you?"


	47. Chapter 46

**_~x~ Chapter 46 ~x~_**

Christian shifted again. "You don't come across as someone who cares much about what outsiders think."

"You're not really an outsider though, unless you'd prefer to keep it that way." I told him pointedly.

He stared at me for a good long moment before he smiled. "No, you're a very interesting person, Kylie. Life with you would never be boring."

"Pfft, anyone can tell you that." I snorted.

"You're someone who doesn't take any bullshit. Evidently, you don't take insults about people you like and would sooner beat the shit out of them than take a moment to control your temper."

"Hey, they deserve the beating."

"I didn't say they didn't. You are very strange, Kylie, and you're very different. I can't place it but from the times I have seen you around, you seem strangely at home here even though it's only been a week. It's almost as if you were always meant to belong here."

"Well, you sure do know how to make someone feel like they've really settled in."

"You don't need words to tell you that you've settled in perfectly." I just gave him a wide grin. "It's probably partly due to your protective nature that you seem to fit in so well. You've definitely made it widely known that messing with you is a terrible idea."

"Clearly that message didn't set in properly for some people."

"Nick, right?"

"Who else? He's been a total jackass right from the start."

"Strangely enough, you seemed to have had it in for him since day one."

"I don't like his attitude."

"You didn't know his attitude enough to have an opinion."

"I saw him at breakfast, then I saw him in class. Both times he made enough of a bad impression for me to form an opinion." I told him bluntly. "I mean, seriously, who goes and sits by a new girl acting all like he owned me on her first day of school?"

"Nick likes to move fast to know who's available and who isn't at the first chance he gets."

"I've noticed that. He didn't take no for an answer, he gets hit. Simple as that."

"Being a hot girl you must've been used to guys hitting on you straight away by now."

"Guys tend to know to back away pretty quickly once they know I wasn't interested. Not to mention, he just seemed to naturally make me pissed off. Until he changes his attitude, that's unlikely to change."

"It's a little strange but he seems oddly attached to you. He can't explain it very well but he said that there was something about you that draws you to him."

"That's really weird… Normally, if someone wants to stay close to another, they don't do and say all the wrong things that places them on their shit-list." I drawled. "Considering you're friends with him and all, I'm sure that he must have a nice side that won't make me want to hit him every time I see him."

"No one's ever really challenged him the way you do, Kylie. Usually, not even the royals step in. They just take it in stride as his personality and stays out of it."

"Yeah, apparently they walk right out when it gets too much."

"Yeah." Christian agreed. "Nick's like that because of his father, I reckon. He's always raised Nick to behave like he's the most important person in the world and that he should think of himself as above others."

I frowned at that. "That doesn't make any sense though… I mean, considering the system they have going here, surely the King is the most important, then the royal families. O'Connor isn't a royal name."

"No it isn't, but his father is weird like that. Trust me when I say that Nick isn't always like a dick. He's just been around the wrong types of people for far too long and never quite grew up."

"I'll believe you." I told him with a sigh. "I mean, everyone has their backgrounds and circumstances, but until he stops insulting my friends and family, I can't stop beating the crap out of him for being a douche."

"Maybe he'll finally start learning to stop putting up a front."

"Putting up a front? Is that what you call his prattish attitude?"

Christian looked a little embarrassed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah."

"I'd say that it's more than just putting up a front." I scoffed, thinking back to when we were just kids and Nick O'Connor had been almost the same as he was now, only less crude since we were younger. "I hope you don't mind me asking, Christian, but why do _you_ know his not to jerkish side? I mean, with his front, I would've thought that he'd be like all the other jerks that pretend to feel repulsed by your sexual preference."

"You're pretty blunt."

"Sorry, it's a habit of mine."

"I'm still surprised that you don't even bat an eyelash at the fact that I'm gay."

"Like I said, I have a good friend who's gay. The gender of the person you prefer to have sex with has nothing to do with me." I scoffed. "In theory it shouldn't be any one else's business either but hey the world isn't perfect."

"But I'm a stranger."

"Like that makes any difference."

Christian gave me another smile before answering my question. "He doesn't seem like it, but he doesn't care about that kind of thing."

I whistled and a little bit of me eased. So Nick O'Connor isn't a total jerkwad after all. "Now _that_ is a surprise."

"I know. It surprised the hell out of everyone else too. They were expecting him to be the worst but he wasn't. Even I was surprised."

"I'll bet."

"It started when the cat was out of the bag." Christian sighed as he looked down at his hands. "It happened about a year or two ago. It was at a party and a girl tried to kiss me in a flirtatious way and I refused. That wasn't the only time it's happened."

"Well you are attractive so I'm not surprised. It's obvious that some of the girls here are pretty forward about sexual advances."

"You think I'm attractive?"

"Well, yeah. If you weren't gay, I might have thought about dating you, but you are so it's my loss." I shrugged, giving him a kind smile. He looked a little awkward and I smacked him. "I said might, not definitely. I have yet to really get to know your personality and that counts more."

"Oh really?" he retorted dubiously. "You and Eric got together pretty quickly."

"I don't know how that happened."

"How can you not know how it happened?"

"Just what I said. Anyway, this isn't about me so let's get back on track and we can talk about my oddities later."

"I'm persistent. I should let you know that now."

"I'm not saying I won't tell you, I'm just saying not right this second."

"Well, anyway. Because I'd refused so many girls and never flirted with them, she got angry and demanded why I'd refused her. I felt really awkward and tried to leave, but some of the nearby guys and girls heard and turned to look. Then they joined in, saying that it was weird that I'd never flirted with the girls."

"Maybe you just found them repulsive and thought that they were skanks."

"Well, I wouldn't say that I found girls repulsive, I just don't get sexually attracted by you guys."

"And that's perfectly fine."

"Well, for her it wasn't. She didn't like being rejected at all and then they pieced it together. They didn't actually expect it to be true, but since I had no way of denying it, I just confirmed their suspicion. Before it got bad, Nick stepped in and said that everyone was being stupid and that the girl was just being a sore loser just because I wouldn't kiss her."

"Did he believe it at the party?"

"I doubt it." Christian scoffed. "He can be a little slow sometimes. But then after the party, he asked me about it. He snuck into my room which actually scared the shit out of me. I mean, we weren't exactly friends back then so it was a surprise. Anyway, he asked me flat out and I just admitted it. I wasn't sure why I did it. I think it might have had the straightforward gleam in his eyes."

"Straightforward gleam?"

"It sounds a little weird, doesn't it?"

"A little, but I think that might be because it's to do with O'Connor." I admitted sheepishly. "I tend to be rather biased when it comes to him."

"He paused for a while when I admitted it. Then he blew out a breath and said that life was going to get a rather shit for me with some people at the Academy. Then, without saying anything, he just left my room. The next day, I was surprised when he started acting like we'd been best friends for years and cut in whenever anyone said anything. Usually, he responded with an insult."

"That sounds like him."

"Then from then on, we got talking and really did become good friends. He'd confide in me, something that he finds hard with others, and I'd listen to him patiently, sometimes giving him advice when I can but others I'll just listen."

I smiled and patted his shoulder. "Sometimes, listening is all they need. Pretty words, even heartfelt ones, aren't always right. It usually depends on the situation and the people involved."

"Nick's the type to need verbal reassurance. For someone who usually acts like that, he seriously lacks self-confidence."

"Well then, I can see why he cozied up to you. He saw a little bit of you in him."

Christian gave me a surprised stare and I just stared levelly back at him. I wasn't really sure what he was looking for as he stared at me like that. He was looking for something, and whatever it was, he seemed to have found it because then he smiled. He gave a full smile and it was beautiful. Normally, I wouldn't use the word beautiful to describe guys, but that was the only word for it. It was my turn to be surprised when he reached out, leaned forward and gave me a soft kiss on the lips.

"You are pretty all-knowing. You know that?"

"I'm not." I breathed out, confused as to how we went from hardly knowing each other to suddenly kissing. "I just understand it because I was like that."

"You? Lacking self-confidence? No way."

"Usually, it is the people who seem to be assertive that lack the most self-confidence. I got over it eventually but it did take me years. Until after my parents passed away in fact when I had to grow some balls and learn to be more confident to survive in the world."

"Not all people are like that though."

"Of course not. Most people are caught in between. They're confident but everyone has their weak points that make their confidence falter. No one is wholly confident without worries."

"What are you? A counsellor in disguise to help boost student confidence?"

"For this place? We don't need that sort of thing. I'd say we have enough overly confident people in our school."

He gave a small laugh. "You're probably right about that."

"O'Connor is lucky to have you by his side." I told him earnestly. "Without you, his life would probably be a total mess."

"Probably not."

"Everyone needs someone to confide in. You are that person for him. Without you, he'd implode and go off the rails. Welcome to high school life."

"I couldn't agree with you more about that." Christian chuckled, tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ear. "So, about you and Eric. Explain that because you were being very confusing."

I gave a small sigh and pulled at my hair tie so that my hair fell out of its messy bun. I brushed the knots out with my fingers and thought about it. "It's confusing because it's a confusing situation. I mean, it's unlike me to just jump into it like that. We're not going out."

"You're not? You certainly made it look like you guys were."

"I didn't do anything." I told him firmly. "Eric was the one who kissed me on Monday."

"If you're not going out, then what is going on between you two?"

"We're seeing each other. I refused to go out with him because I don't know him."

"Kylie… Everyone is saying that you guys are going out. They think that you're off limits."

"We're not exclusive. Eric and I agreed on that."

"Eric doesn't do anything half assed. It's a little hard to believe that he settled for that."

"He wanted to kiss me, the only way he was going to get to do that was settling for half way. I don't give meaningless kisses."

"Oh? Sorry about earlier then," he said so hastily that it made me laughed.

"I said meaningless kisses. Somehow, I get the feeling that our kiss earlier wasn't meaningless."

"Kylie, I'm gay."

"I know that." I rolled my eyes at him for his cautious tone. No doubt he was thinking that I'd misunderstood. "Seriously, you really don't know enough people who can be normal about the fact that you're gay. I know you're gay, man. Get that into your thick skull first. What I meant was, I know that you kissed me for a reason, not because you felt sexually attracted to do it, but there was a reason, no?"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I've kissed Tyce, my gay friend out of school, far too many times to count. Sometimes it's when we're drunk and just messing around, but more often than not, it's either a kiss of gratitude, reassurance or demonstration of sincerity. You gays are a little strange like that. A simple hug doesn't work well enough to hammer the emotion through."

"I have to say, I haven't met another gay person so I wouldn't know if it was normal or not. I just moved on instinct to be honest."

"So, which was it? Was it one of the three aforementioned reasons or have I got to add another one?"

"If I had to choose a word for it…" he paused to think for a moment. "Either awe, adoration, marvel or respect."

"Those words suck." I blanched. "What the hell were you feeling those for?"

"Kylie?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you getting embarrassed?"

"I'm not."

"Your cheeks are reddening."

"Shut up, Christian."

"It was a mixture of awe and adoration. I was surprised that you'd understood so well and just didn't know how to show that so I just moved."

"Thanks, now I do have another reason to add to the list."

"I'm glad to be of help," he teased. "So, back to the conversation."

"We're definitely not dating, whatever anyone else says. We just have an arrangement, that's all. Anyway, I'm seriously starting to think that agreeing to his idea was a really bad move."

"Really?"

"He's not right. There's something about it that's not right. I mean, I've seen my fair share of guys in my life, Christian, and I've never felt this way before. It's a really strange sense of wrongness. It's almost like I know I don't want to be with him, and yet for some strange reason, I am. I mean, I've gone out with guys before with no strings attached, partly to get them off my back, but also because I knew that doing so wouldn't change anything without relationship, instead, it would take the strain off it."

"Guys like that exist?"

"You'd be surprised." I scoffed. "Anyway, I'm not exactly inexperienced with dating. I know when it feels wrong."

"And it feels wrong now?"

"He's just… I don't know." I groaned, thrusting my hands into my hair in frustration. I didn't really think about it before, mainly because I didn't need to since it's only been a day and a half. But now that I did, none of it made sense at all. Eric wasn't my type and although I appreciated a nice kiss now and then this just didn't feel right.

"So end it."

"Christian, what kind of guy does Eric seem like to you?"

"A persistent one who always gets what he wants and it seems that he really does." Christian looked pointedly at me.

"He hasn't got me yet, buddy." I retorted. "Anyway, I think I know partly why I said yes to the agreement. Our agreement was that I wouldn't refuse his advances so long as I haven't found someone I do like."

"Hence, you're seeing each other but not in an exclusive relationship."

"Yeah. It sounds a little strange, but it was the only way to stop his hounding. I recognised that kind of character straight away when I was helping Jensen take the Senior training session. I think that was why I agreed to the agreement. It was so that I could at least set some kind of boundary."

"How is seeing him setting a boundary? If anything, wouldn't it make it worse?"

"Usually, it works, because the guys back at my old school got over the initial desire of just wanting to score me. They never got worse, they only got better and we always fell into a normal friendship afterwards. But with Eric, it's not working because I won't give him what he wants."

"I know you're not a slut, Kylie, because it's not in your character, but why not?"

"Because it'll be an act of submission, Christian. That's what he wants. He wants my submission. He wants the satisfaction that he can reduce me to nothing and make me beg. I won't let him do that to me. I won't let anyone do that to me."

"Kylie… you're kind of making him sound like some kind of a monster."

"That's because to me, at the moment, that's what he resembles." I grumbled.

"Isn't that a little farfetched?"

"Maybe, but I like to exaggerate things sometimes."

"If it's making you feel like this, then why not end it?"

"It's our agreement. We've already established that he's persistent. He won't just accept it unless I give him a reason."

"Tell him he's being a creep."

"Like that's going to get him off my back."

"There's more to it, isn't there, Kylie?"

"Now you're the one being awfully perceptive." I scoffed.

He was right. There was more to it. It wasn't just that I knew he wouldn't leave me alone. Now that I thought about it, I was scared of what he would do if I tried to confront him about it. It was becoming exceedingly obvious that I was useless against him and I knew that if he really tried, he could do anything to me and I wouldn't be able to fend him off. Eric liked me too much as his prize. He wouldn't just let me go like that even if it had only been a day and a bit since our agreement.

"Are you going to answer that?"

"This might sound really arrogant."

"Go ahead, it can't be more arrogant than most of the things that Marissa used to say."

"If you put it like that…" I grinned at him. "I think Eric sees me more as an object, as a prize, more than anything else. Could you imagine just letting go of a prize once you had it just because it said that you creeped it out?"

Christian thought about it for a moment before he gave a slow nod. "You're being pretty harsh to yourself."

"But it's true, don't you think? I doubt that Eric actually has any sincere feelings towards me besides wanting to get in my pants."

"And?"

"What?"

"You had that kind of tone that implied there was more to it. Not to mention, you mentioned something about submission. Just sleeping with you wouldn't make you feel like that."

Now that made me hesitate. I'd been pretty forthcoming with the details so far and I was surprised at that. I scrutinised Christian for a moment and decided that that was why Nick O'Connor liked him so much. Christian was a really nice and easy person to talk to. He was the type of person who gave of an air of loyalty and secrecy. You could feel totally safe telling him anything and know that he wouldn't go blag it to the world.

I looked around, making sure that no one else was around. I hadn't noticed anyone approach, but it was better to be sure. I dropped my voice down a few notches and leaned closer to him.

"He wants to bite me, Christian. He wants me as food, not as a human being."


	48. Chapter 47

**_~x~ Chapter 47 ~x~_**

I watched as realisation and understanding became horror and disgust and then to concern for me. "No wonder you make him sound like a monster. He is being a monster."

"Precisely." I whispered.

"You're scared."

"Why shouldn't I be? I'd never had to fend off a vampire I couldn't stake before. The very idea of it terrifies me, Christian. It's so primal and not in a good way. It's almost like he wants to tie me to him."

"A vampire's bite can do that. That's why Moroi usually change their humans after a while and they almost never take from the same human on two consecutive days. They'd always alternate so that the bond would never become strong enough for the human to become attached and vice versa. Of course, there are some humans who are more vulnerable than that but it's rare."

"That must be one heck of a difficult system to try and manage. I'd hate to be in the department that administrates all that."

"It must be so boring as well and if something goes wrong, you'd end up in serious trouble and possibly out of the job instantly."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. The Royal Court takes that department very strictly. It's sort of the riskiest job because they have the most contact with the humans."

"That sucks."

"So does your predicament."

"How has this turned into a predicament?"

"You can't get out of it easily, can you?"

"I thought we already established that." I grumbled.

"Then just pick someone."

"I can't do that!" I squealed. "How much of a bitch would I be if I used someone just to get out of something?"

"I'd say it's justifiable in your situation."

"I can't do something like that."

"Kylie, I'm sure that there are plenty of people in this school who would genuinely help you out of this."

"I highly doubt that I'd have the guts to explain the situation to anyone else just yet."

"But you have to end it soon, Kylie, before too much time passes and he begins to think that he has some hold on you." Christian told me sternly.

"I know… I'll do something about it as soon as I figure out a plan. I haven't really thought that deeply into this until now to be honest."

"It's better to be late than never, even if late does happen to be only a day and a bit."

"Thanks, Christian. How on earth did a training session to help you improve your fighting end up to be such a serious conversation?"

"Don't ask me. I was just going with the flow." Christian shrugged nonchalantly. "Thank you for confiding in me."

"You just have that air about you. I can see why O'Connor is so honest with you. You make it hard for people to lie."

"I'd consider that to be a good thing. I hate it when people lie, especially when it's to your face."

"I think most people hate that." I laughed and stood up. I gave him a hand up as well before dusting myself off. "We should probably get ready for breakfast. People will be getting up and walking around soon."

"Thanks again, Kylie, for agreeing to help with my training."

"Don't worry about it. Just don't let O'Connor see that you have my number. I don't want him getting his hands on it."

"Don't worry. I won't pass your number around."

"This isn't going to put you in an awkward position, is it? I mean, we don't exactly get along and now you're caught in the middle…"

"I'll be fine, Kylie."

"That's good. I'd hate for him to think that I was trying to steal you away or anything."

"Nick might have acted out of place on Monday, but he isn't actually possessive of his friends. Not his real ones anyway." Christian shrugged. "He'd understand even if he pretends not to."

"You sure do read him well."

"I've been his best friend for two years, I should hope so after all those long nights of listening to him pour his heart out."

"At least there is someone he can feel comfortable enough around to do that with." I smiled. "I'll see you at breakfast."

"See you later, Kylie," he agreed and grabbed his stuff so he could head off.

I headed to the side to grab my stuff when I saw that I had three missed calls from my manager and a text message that demanded I call her as soon as I could. I looked around, even went as far as peering out into the corridor to make sure no one was loitering around before calling her back. I moved to sit a neatly stacked pile of mats and hit the call button. She picked on the third ring.

"Kai!"

"Yo, Ms. Manager. What can I do for you?"

"I need your schedule. When you would be free and whatnot."

"What else? That's not urgent enough to give me a call."

"It's urgent because I need to work up a schedule for the boys and get you back here for a run through of Louise's new song. We need to know what to change and what to keep and how it's going to go. We need you back for that."

"Okay, I'll talk it over with my headmaster and work up a schedule for you ASAP."

"Today would be great, Kai."

"There's something else, I presume?"

"There's almost always something else."

"So spill."

"Kai, I know you usually say no, but do you still object to photoshoots?"

"It depends on why you ask." I told her plainly. There was a pause and I shifted my sitting position to get more comfortably. "It's for a friend, isn't it? You have a friend who would like me to model their clothing line, right?"

"How did you know?" she murmured.

"Well, for one thing, it's not the first time. You sure do know a lot of people, Ms. Manager. Then again, it's thanks to your lovely work ethic and connections that we got so well publicised right from the start."

"Your success isn't just thanks to my friends, though I admit in your line of work it does help a lot. Will you consider it?"

"Will I get free clothes? You know I hate shopping."

"No, you don't," she scoffed. "You just don't like clothes shopping. And yes you will. Some of those outfits are right up your street. The main reason why she asked for you in particular is because not as many models can pull off a girl and boy style in one shoot as well as you can."

"And me being one of the only established artists out there with dual styles makes it all the easier because your friend already knows that I'll make the outfits work and make them wanted."

"Precisely."

"And how do you plan on sweetening the request, Ms. Manager?" I drawled with a playful tone.

"I'll work my ass off to make your recording schedule workable despite your timetable?"

"As much as I love you, Ms. Manager, that's your job so I wouldn't call that sweetening the deal."

"When she comes over from England for the shoot once we've worked out a good date, I'll get her to bring over some infamous Fortnum and Mason's biscuits and hazelnut syrup that you love to put in your coffee so much."

"I want two bottles, Ms. Manager. Thank you in advance and tell your friend I look forward to working with her."

"You drive a hard bargain, Kai."

I laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I love you too, Ms. Manager. By the way, do you know what the recording schedule might look like at all?"

"If it's possible, you're in for a hard next few months, Kai. We have Louise's songs to record, a few covers that your fans have been requesting for a whole year to work on. It's going to fill a whole album."

"A full album? You're kidding! The last I checked, Louise had only written one song."

"Correction, she'd only told you about one song. She had six more in that purple book of hers."

"Six… wow she _has_ been busy. Where the hell did she get all that inspiration from?"

"You ask her when you get the chance, Kai. Not to mention, there'll be three cover songs and then three acoustic recordings of songs in this album."

"That's a lot of songs…"

"Your fault for being in high demand. And there are two more songs I want you to listen to. They were sent to me by other song writers who want you to sing it."

"Seriously, how many songs are you planning on cramming into this album?"

"As many as I can."

"You know that I can only do so many gigs now that I'm in a different State."

"You hardly ever did gigs anyway, Kai," she grumbled.

"Well, there is that." I agreed with a grin. "I'll find out my schedule and negotiate with my headmaster about when I can leave school and all that jazz. Just to let you know in advance, when I do come out of school, there's always going to be someone with me. Will that be alright?"

"Anything to get you out to the studios for recording, Kai."

"Wicked. Well then, I need to go but it's been nice talking to you, Ms. Manager. Have a great day."

"And the same to you, Kai. Thank you on behalf of my friend for taking on the modelling job."

"Don't worry about it. I get food out of it so it's all cool. Do you think she'll already have a make-up artist lined up?"

"If not, I'll give Ana a ring and see if she'll be up for it."

"She will be. She'll always be up for a job. She has a college fund to save up for after all."

"I'll get back to you soon. Just focus on getting me that schedule first and then we'll talk more about work."

"Alright, will do. Talk to you soon, Ms. Manager."

"Goodbye, Kai."

I tapped the end call button and fell back onto the mats to stare at the ceiling for a second or two to just let my brain relax. It was the most intense morning I'd had for a while with the training with Christian followed by our strangely deep chat. I wasn't used to having such an intense start to the day and it took a moment for my brain to catch up properly. I mentally pencilled in that I'd have to do a fashion shoot at some point in the relative future for Ms. Manager's friend in my mental to-do list.

Hastily, I grabbed my bag, headed into the changing rooms and quickly got changed. I threw on a vest top, short sleeved hoodie, three quarter length capris and trainers before shoving my training kit into my bag and slung it onto my shoulder. I checked the time on my phone and saw that I had plenty of time to have a decent breakfast and made my way there.

For the first time over the past week or so, I felt my contacts begin to irritate my eyes and cursed. I remembered that I was supposed to change them soon and made another mental note to call the coloured-contacts company as soon as I was on my own again.

"Kai!" Ingrid beamed and waved when she saw me. Just like that first morning I met her, she was bubbling with energy and stood to wave enthusiastically at me.

"Hey, Ingrid." I laughed. "Seriously, how on earth do you manage to have so much energy first thing in the day?"

"I was blessed to wake up well," she declared proudly.

"Lucky." I complained, dropping my bag onto the empty seat beside Jacks. "What's for breakfast this morning?"

"Nothing sweet except for cereal and fruit." Dan told me just as I left the table to head to the counter.

I got as much as I could stuff onto a small plate and grabbed an apple before heading back to the table. "So, no injuries today, huh?" I teased the guys.

"Thankfully, no." Quinn chuckled. "We don't usually get attacked two mornings consecutively."

"If we did, we'd never opt to wake him up." Dan scoffed. "We might have joined combat class, but no one wants to be attacked just because we were trying to wake him up."

"You know, Dan, I might just attack you for the fun of it tomorrow morning because you said that." Drew drawled playfully, throwing a grape at him. "You look like you've been up for a while."

"I got a call which got me up early so I decided to take a run since I was already up." I shrugged.

"Who would call so early?" Roxy commented, pursing her lips together in confusion.

"Well, it's technically late in the human world." I reminded her. "It was for work."

"Oh! So something new?"

"Yes, and no I'm not sharing the news." I told them flatly before they could even ask. They'd probed enough last night and that was all I was going to tell them.

"Kai!" the three girls groaned in perfect synch and I smirked at them.

"No means no. It would spoil the surprise after all."

"You're mean." Els complained, smacking me in the arm.

The rest of the morning flew by without much happening besides lessons as normal. Every now and then, Nick would shoot a glare in my direction and I'd just resist the urge to stick my tongue out immaturely at him. Christian would give me a small smile here and there when he thought no one was looking.

Worst had to be Drew though. He would give me a curiously stare here and there, a teasing smirk in between and suspicious glances when he thought I wasn't paying attention. The way he was setting me on edge like that somewhat irritated me but there was nothing I could do about it. His suspicion wasn't going to fade unless he found out the truth, and I was going to do my best to make sure he didn't learn of it any time soon.

Strangely enough, I didn't see Eric at all over lunch break. A part of me was glad for it, another part was surprised by it. Either way, I didn't bother seeking him out. Delaying the confrontation with him for a little while longer wouldn't hurt and I had a chat with a certain guardian to look forward to.

Noticing that I still had some time before I was due to start my extra training session with Joe and Crispin, I decided to head to Martin's office so that I could get that schedule sorted. Knowing me, if I didn't get it sorted as soon as possible, I'd forget about it. I knocked on his door three times and waited for his reply before walking in, making sure to shut the door properly behind me.

"Hey, Martin."

"Good afternoon, Kai. Is everything alright?" he asked, a slight hint of fatherly concern in his tones as he eyed me while I took a seat.

"Oh, don't worry, Martin, everything's totally fine. I just have a few things to ask you, that's all." I reassured him, pulling out a note book from my rucksack. "I need as detailed of a schedule as you could produce between now until the end of the academic year. It's so that Ms. Manager can form an accurate work schedule for me."

"Oh yes, she'd mentioned she might need something like that when we'd spoken on the phone. I'd already written up a timetable for you. I can print it out for you now if you want."

"That might not be a good idea. I might lose the paper. It'd probably be easier if you just emailed it to me. Why don't you open your account and I'll type in my email address?" I suggested, dumping the notebook on the sofa seat and headed over towards his desk.

I waited patiently, leaning against the mahogany office desk as he signed in. He slid the keyboard towards me and I entered my details, saving the address under the name 'Little Sky'. He smiled at that and promptly sent me the email.

"I'll forward that to her and then we can negotiate timings. Do you have a limit on how many times I'm allowed out?"

"Just don't overwork yourself, Kai. Unless it's necessary, I don't want your work cutting into school hours, either."

"I'll let her know that." I reassured him with a nod.

"You have tomorrow afternoon's extra lesson off. Rosette and Maria are taking you shopping."

"You're kidding." I stared at him in shock, mouth slightly agape.

"It would be nice for you if I was, wouldn't it?" Martin glanced at me in amusement.

"You're not?"

"No."

"But why? We've got ages until the dinner!"

"Wouldn't you rather get it over and done with? Think of it this way, if you go tomorrow, you won't have to spend the _whole day_ shopping during the weekend."

I blanched and pulled a face as I pictured having to spend the entire day shopping with fashion enthusiasts who had absolutely no qualms about spending money whether they had enough of it or not. I remember back then that Mum, Rosette and Maria were the worst shopping trio in the world. They just loved to buy things and it didn't matter that our house no longer had the space, Mum always somehow managed to cram everything into our house. I gave a small smile when I remembered that Dad would occasionally donate some of the things that weren't being used anymore to the academy. Mum would always sulk afterwards but then he'd always cheer her up without fail.

"They're going to be rather terrifying, aren't they?" I groaned. "They're going to think of it as six years overdue shopping and go absolutely crazy…"

"Well, you certainly don't seem to have the same outlook towards shopping as Amelie had. Perhaps you can help curb their shopping tendencies."

"Perhaps." I grumbled, unconvinced. "But somehow, I don't think anyone could curb their shopping tendencies."

"I would help, Kai, but men usually know to stay away when a woman gets enthusiastic about shopping."

"That's alright, I'll just flatly refuse if it comes down to it." I scoffed. "Besides, I need to stock up on some things anyways now that I know what work I have."

"Work?"

"My manager just called me to let me know what to expect. That's why she really needs the schedule."

"And what can your fans expect?"

I gave him a cheeky grin and shook my head. "You might not be fan but I can't say. Confidentiality reasons. That and the fact that I don't know completely either."

"Well, now that we know you are the lead singer, we're all fans." Martin told me simply. "I hear that you've helped patch up the Dragomir brothers' relationship."

I shot him a startled look and blinked. "Seriously, you guys communicate way too fast behind my back. I mean, really? It happened just yesterday for crying out loud."

"Alistair likes to look out for his students, especially Trace."

"I can see that." I smiled, thinking about the way Ali behaved around the kids.

"How did you manage it? Most of us thought that it would take the two princes a lot longer to wise up about how foolish they were being."

"I didn't really do anything. I just bluntly told them to stop being stupid and that Trace doesn't actually hate them. They just thought he did and vice versa. Anyway, I dragged them along to my detention so that they could ask Trace to come along to the dinner with us and then things just went from there. Funny thing was, the twins didn't actually get round to asking Trace if he wanted to come to the dinner or not."

"They were probably too enthralled with the fact that Trace wasn't running away from them all the time anymore."

"That's totally understandable. What older sibling wants their baby sibling to be terrified of them?" I glanced at the large clock Martin had in his office and saw that I needed to head off if I wanted to be at training on time. "I should go. I've got an important chat to be had with Crispin."

Martin shot me a surprised glance. "You two are on first name basis?"

I grinned and gave a shrug. "Apparently so. I look forward to finding out just how and why Crispin has adapted to the situation so damn well."

"You have your father's talent of drawing people close to you. Those you allow into your life will be there forever because you inherited that subconscious sense of decision from Raymond."

I stared at him with arched brows, surprised by his analysis. "You know this from within a week?"

"As the headmaster, I hear a lot of things."

"I've noticed. What made you think that I inherited that trait from Dad?"

"The people you are now close with. It's only been a week, and yet it's undeniable that you've formed a tight bond with your friends here. Raymond was the same. He would often instinctively know who will be there to stick around and who won't."

"That could be partially thanks to his Spirit, you know? He did see auras after all."

"That may be." Martin agreed. "You should go before we get into a long conversation. You should talk to Jensen. He is a good guy."

"I know. If he's close with Joey, he's bound to be." I smiled sweetly. "See you later."

"Try to stay out of trouble, Kai."

"Hey, I've been good since I got back." I protested. "Well, apart from what happened with O'Connor anyways."

"I'm just saying." Martin held his hands up defensively. "Considering the stunts you've pulled, as a headmaster I have to say it."

"Point taken." I sighed in defeat. I grabbed my bag, hefted it onto my shoulder and as I left his office I gave him a small wave.

When I got to the training hall, I was surprised to see just Crispin lying on his back on a pile of mats with his hands clasped casually behind his head. "Yo, where's Joey?" I greeted as I approached him.

He sat up, gave me a confused stare before realisation dawned. "Ah, you mean Maxwell?"

"Yeah. You're going to have some fun getting used to the names."

"I have no doubt," he chuckled. "I spoke to Maxwell earlier and we decided that it would be less time consuming if we had the talk during the training. As far as you're concerned, missing a couple of hours of training a week isn't really going to do you any harm."

"Are you sure you two aren't just trying to save your butts from aching?" I teased as I got comfortable on another pile of mats placed near him.

"That may have been pointed out during our discussion." Crispin said vaguely. "To think that guardian instructors would get beaten so thoroughly by a novice…"

"It's a bizarre concept, isn't it?"

"Just a little. But I reckon I've gotten pretty used to it."

"In just a little over a week? I'm impressed."

"Considering how well you fight, I might as well get used to it as soon as possible. So I hear that you are attending the dinner with the royals."

"How come you know about that?" I blinked in surprise.

"Guardian Hunt asked if I would be available to act as a guard to escort you shopping tomorrow."

"Oh… well that makes sense. Are you joining us on the shopping trip of doom?"

"Shopping trip of doom? That sounds rather… exaggerated."

"Believe me, with those two, it won't be." I scoffed. "They're worse than Els, Roxy and Ingrid. Maria and Rosette will throw things at you to try on, then they'd insist to pretty much buy out the shops because they need everything when they really don't. It's a terrifying experience."

"I guess it's just my luck that I won't be going." Crispin laughed at my response. "A senior asked if I could help him with extra training tomorrow and I'd already agreed."

"So there are some dhampirs who would actually request for extra training to get better?" I whistled. "I'm impressed."

"Most dhampirs, especially when they get to senior year, do put in a lot more effort, Val."

The short name took me by surprise, but then I remembered that he'd decided on that name last night. I just grinned at him. "That name is quickly growing on me."

"It's not a bad name. Out of interest, why did you choose the name that you have?"


	49. Chapter 48

**_~x~ Chapter 48 ~x~_**

"Hm…" I hummed and fell back onto the mats so that I could gaze at the ceiling as I reminisced about when I broke out six years ago. "I wanted to keep the name Kai no matter what. I wanted to keep something of _me_ rather than changing completely so I thought about a bunch of names which would logically have the shortened name of Kai and eventually settled for Kylie. As for Valentine… I don't really know. I think it just sounded cool."

I turned my head so that I could see what Crispin's reaction would be. A pensive look settled on his face, and then confusion. "Why is your name Kai?" he asked, a confused frown occupying his face. "From your name, I would've thought that the right nickname would be Kal."

"Kai are my initials." I explained to him. "The 'a' stands for Adriana."

"Well, that definitely makes more sense," he chuckled in understanding. "There was one other name that I didn't quite understand. Why did Maria call you Skylar?"

"You're on first name basis with Maria?" I blinked in surprise.

"Thanks to Maxwell, I've come to be on first name basis with your family."

"Then why do you still call Joey 'Maxwell'?"

"It's a habit and he never insisted on otherwise. I generally call most male guardians by their surnames."

"That's really weird…"

"You're not so normal yourself," he teased with a smirk. "Are you going to answer my question?"

"You know my real name, right?"

He paused. A pensive expression settled on his face before it was replaced with a frown and then a somewhat sheepish expression. "No."

"You don't know my name?"

"I should, shouldn't I?"

"No necessarily… I'm just surprised, that's all. But then again, most people have been referring to me as 'the lost Ivashkov princess' for so long, basically since I left, so I guess there's no reason why you would know my name."

"Even so, I probably should've known your name considering who I'm friends with here."

"They wouldn't have mentioned my full name. The only one who uses now is Rosette." I scoffed. "Everyone's got their variations to my name. Anyway, my name is Kalani and apparently that means sky. One way or another, I don't actually recall how or why, Maria started calling me Skylar and it stuck."

"You sure do have quite a few names," he agreed. "How do you keep up with it all?"

"I find out what people are calling me and I get pretty accustomed to it quick. I had to considering I had so many of them."

"Does anyone call you Kal?"

I shook my head, taking a brief moment to stretch out before answering his question. "No. They said that it sounded too much like a guy's name like that so they took my initials and made a name out of that. Have you ever had strange nicknames?"

Crispin turned away from me for a moment, gazing up at the ceiling to think. "Thankfully, just two: Pin and Jenny."

"Jenny?" I sniggered. "That's really mean of whoever called you that."

"They never got round to calling me that more than once." Crispin scoffed, an amusingly badass gleam in his eyes.

"You silenced the poor sod?"

"I wouldn't call him that. We were pretty equal so I got injured just as much as he did."

"You mean you weren't always such a kickass fighter?"

"Everyone had to start somewhere, Val," he chuckled.

I blushed at my own stupidity. "There is that…"

"This happened back in elementary school so I was still learning."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, Crispin, but why are you here in this Academy?"

He turned to face me once more and I watched as he sat up, crossing his legs at the ankles. "It was because of the attack here."

"Let me guess, they decided that they needed more skilled guardians here so they snagged whatever guardian they could get their hands on?"

A grin tugged at his lips and he shook his head. "Not quite. Hunt did what he could to try and get the top guardians to come to this school since there are so many royals here."

"But of course, the top guardians would be assigned to court and around the King. I bet Martin tried to make a really strong case about having more of them here though."

"He fought as hard as he could, but in the end he only managed to get two from the court to transfer."

"Then what about you?"

"I heard about the attack and a guardian who knew me recommended me to Hunt who then filed in papers requesting for me to be stationed here as a teacher and guard."

I waited, not saying anything, because I could tell that there was more to the story than that. It was in his tone of voice, the slight guilt, grief, and self-reprimand was there, making his voice heavier and lower, almost chastising.

"When I was in High School, a guy called Enrique Lazar was in my class. He was a nice guy, not your typical stuck-up-and-pampered royal. But you know how people usually are. They either adore the royal like a fan, or try to be sneaky and get popular through the royal, or they treat them with the utmost respect and don't see through their royal title."

Crispin took a pause there, taking a deep breath and a moment to collect his thoughts. I watched his features changing constantly, becoming tight with grief and regret one moment then back to normal the next.

"I was the third group. I never saw him as anything more than a royal, someone who needed to be guarded at all times. I treated him almost like an object, disregarding what he might have felt and just did my job. After graduation, I was assigned to be his closest guard. I wasn't anything special back in elementary school, but when I got to High School, my muscles began to build properly and I was one of the best there."

"And it seems that you are one of the best here." I told him, giving him a small smile. "And apparently the best when it comes to pair work with Joey."

"We were unbeatable."

"Until a little runt like me popped into the equation?" I teased.

"You're not a runt, Val. A reckless girl, perhaps, but not a runt."

I laughed at the protest in his voice at the idea of calling me a runt. "Glad to hear that."

"I guarded Enrique for four years after graduation but we were never friends because I was too stubborn back then and refused to see past his title. I hardly ever took his feelings into consideration and yet he never stopped trying. He wanted me to open up, he wanted to be friends with me. He didn't want me to just be his guard, he wanted to be my best friend, but I never dropped my guard and in doing that, I hurt him for four years."

"Crispin, that's not your fault. You were just trying to do your job, and with the way that dhampirs are raised to pretty much worship the royal families, it's no wonder that you stuck to the rules. You seem like a rather stubborn person to me hence you get on so well with Joey. You're basically two peas in a pod."

"I'm not that stubborn."

"I might not know any examples, but I'm pretty good at reading people, Crispin, and I'm pretty sure that you probably are."

"You remind me a little of Enrique," he carried on. "He understood that I couldn't just treat him like anyone else partly because he was Moroi and partly because he was royal. He didn't expect me to just forget everything that I'd learned. He just wanted me to be less uptight. He just wished that the wall I'd build between us from day one wasn't so high. And for four years I hurt him by refusing and ignoring his attempts for friendship. It's a wonder that he didn't hate me."

"You don't come across as a hateable person."

He blinked in surprise before giving me a wide smile. "He said the same thing once."

"Really? Maybe he's secretly my brother?" I suggested jokingly when I knew that that wasn't possible. "See, maybe I'm not such a unique little oddball after all."

"No, you're not," he agreed with a small chuckle. "The worst was when I lost him."

"So I was right. Something horrible and painful did happen to you." I whispered.

"You knew?"

"I could see the darkness in your eyes. You're an upbeat and positive person, Crispin, but there is an unmistakeable shadow in your eyes. It's a gleam that someone has when they lost someone important to them. You might have never lowered your guards, but in your heart, Enrique had always been your friend from day one. That's why it hurt you to hurt him."

"Maybe if I had known you back then, you could've physically knocked some sense into me. You get violent when you get frustrated, don't you?"

"Guilty as charged."

"I didn't lose Enrique to a Strigoi attack. It was a car crash, an old admirer gone mad who thought that if she couldn't have him then no one else could."

"People like that still exist?" I grimaced at the thought of it.

"That's why counsellors exist. I had been driving and she hit the passenger side. He wasn't killed instantly. While the other guardian apprehended her, I took Enrique out of the car to make him as comfortable as I could." Crispin sucked in a breath and I could see the shadows clouding his eyes. "And do you know what he said to me in his dying moment? He apologised. He apologised for being so persistent for so long when I hated it. His exact words were: 'Thank you for putting up with me. I know that it was hard on you with my crazy antics.' He thought that I hated him for being so persistent. He died thinking that I hated him."

I didn't know what to say. There was nothing that I could say. There were no words that could ease his pain. What had happened had happened and nothing could change that. Instead, I rolled off the mats, stepped up to him and rested my hand on his.

He looked at me, staring at me, piercing me with his painful gaze filled with regret.

"I might still have never saved him, but if I had just lowered my guard just a little and been friends with him, I wouldn't have hurt him so much. He wouldn't have died with that kind of painful feeling. I'm not a royal so I'll never know what it feels like to be seen as just a title. But I vowed at that moment that I would never submit anyone else to that. I vowed that I wouldn't hurt someone in that same way again."

Understanding dawned on me and I rested my other hand on his. I gave him a soft smile, leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "Thank you, Crispin." I whispered. "No one is perfect. You weren't to know back then that you had hurt him as much as you did. We can't change the past and that shadow will always be there, but just don't let it consume you."

"The pain has eased over the years," he reassured me. "It will never fade away completely, but it's a reminder that although I have to respect the social hierarchy, it's much more important to respect the person if they deserve it. It's our job to protect you guys, but what's the point in protecting you physically if we're constantly emotionally hurting you? In a way, that might just be worse."

"It _is_ worse." I murmured grimly. "It is far worse to be hurt emotionally than physically. An emotional pain is much deeper. I can't thank you enough for having that kind of attitude towards us royals. While there are certainly a lot of pampered and snobby royals out there, we're not all like that and a lot of us actually want to be respected individually rather than because of our title."

"I knew that you would be like Enrique, that if I were to treat you with guarded respect, I would end up hurting you the way I had hurt him. I saw it in your eyes at Hunt's office when you hit me."

"When you didn't even bother defending yourself, I felt everything break. It's only been a week, but I really like you Crispin. I didn't want to lose the strange easy going teacher-student friendship we had going."

"I have to say, Val. You really do pack one heck of a punch," he grumbled. "I have a bruise that will probably stay there for a while."

"You momentarily deserved it."

"I know. You have to understand, Val. I can't be exactly like before. I will value your safety now more than before but I do know that you are much stronger than the average dhampir let alone a royal."

"Are you likely to jump in the way Ali did outside of the school?"

"I don't know," he told me honestly. "It will definitely depend on the situation. If we do need your help, I won't be as irrational as he was. But I will hold you back if your help isn't absolutely necessary, Val."

"At least you're honest about it." I sighed. "I knew that we won't go back to how it was. That would be impossible and unfair of me to expect of you."

"I'm sorry for hurting you back in the office."

"It's alright. I got to hit you back so now we're even." I smirked. "You know, I think it's just as well that you've found out when you did."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, it was at a time when nothing was really going on. If there was some kind of a crisis or something then things might not have gone as smoothly as they did. Besides, I'll have rehearsals soon and I'll need to make trips out of school quite a lot. Since you and Joey are such a tag team, I'll bet that Martin would've assigned you and Joey as my regular guards to go outside and it'd be a whole lot harder to hide the truth from you later on since you're so observant and Joey would undoubtedly slip up at some point."

Crispin smiled at my jibe towards Joe and shook his head. "Maxwell tends to become a little careless around people he trusts."

"And he definitely trusts you. Otherwise he never would've let you talk to me alone like this." I scoffed. "He's far too protective sometimes."

"I've never seen him like this before. I did think that he was oddly bright and cheery, well more than usual, when he came back from escorting the four royals outside and brought you back. I didn't really tie two and two together until now."

"I worked hard at making sure that we weren't being too obvious."

"And with good reason," he agreed. "How much of the royal life do you know?"

I sighed and stared at the floor. "Enough to know that I'm not ready for it. The me now won't be able to handle the sneaky and cunning people who want to get close to me for merits and benefits. Not to mention, since I'm the last Ivashkov, dhampir or not, they treat me like some kind of treasure which is really freaky. They value me more than they need to and when my parents passed away, for just that one week, the pressure was crippling. As a pretty spineless kid, I couldn't deal with the pressure of being someone that would be approved by everybody."

"So even back then you weren't one to like conforming even though you were raised as a royal?"

"I wasn't raised as a royal, per se. My parents raised me like any other normal kid. They spoiled me, but they always chastised me if I ever acted pompous. I never got into the habit of thinking I held the world in my hands like some other royals did."

"And a lot of royals think like that, especially our current King."

"Exactly. Now, I have a spine, I can face up to the pressure. Yes, when the secret is out, I'll have to learn to appease people, but not in the same weak and pathetic way as I would've done back then. Now that I know who I am, now that I have built my character and confidence, they can't manipulate me anymore. That was what I couldn't bear the most. I knew that they were trying to mould me into the kind of puppet that they could use and there was nothing any of us could do. The others in the family had their hands full with their duties already and it wasn't as if they could backchat the royals. It was a vicious situation."

"Since I don't know about the kid you, I can't imagine you being spineless at all."

"I was pathetic as a kid." I grumbled. "I was a terrible fighter. I had to visit Rosette every other day because of training. Of course, I never gave up and always pestered Mum to give me extra training despite my injuries but I was really bad as a kid. The only thing I was good at was getting up to mischief behind the scenes with Ali."

"Considering how you broke out of the school, it's not difficult to imagine you as a prankster."

"I learned from the best." I smiled at him, going back to sit on the pile of mats. "Ali knew the best kinds of tricks and they were certainly useful when I got outside. I strengthened my spine, got myself together and built my strength with a more intense fervour than before."

"And then you slowly became who you are now."

"Yep."

"Are you still a prankster?"

"I wouldn't say so. I promised Martin that I would be good here. I promised him that I wouldn't cause more trouble than necessary."

"I think I can say on behalf of all guardians that we'll all be grateful for it. That last prank seriously baffled most of us and using cookies was lethal. Those two are now constantly wary of biscuits."

"Oops…" I grimaced. "I hope I can regain their trust again soon. That was just an emergency. I doubt it would happen again. Besides, I've never used the same trick twice."

"I'll let them know that, though I don't think they'll stop being wary anytime soon. It'll take a while for the suspicion to wear off."

"I won't say I'm sorry. It was necessary and totally worth it. I got to kick some Carlton ass."

"I haven't seen all that many soccer games before but even I know that that was one spectacular game. Congratulations again for winning."

"There was no way I was letting them win."

"You shocked us all when you took that hit to the leg, Val."

"Who's 'us'?"

"Guardians. We all knew that that hit wasn't meant for you, but you took it anyway. It was to prevent damage to the boy, wasn't it? Because as a dhampir you're physically stronger and sturdier than the average human."

"Tyce wouldn't have been able to play for at least a several months and he wouldn't have fully recovered for a few years. I couldn't bear having that kind of thought in my mind and we needed him to be in top shape to win. It was much safer for me to take the hit. Not to mention, I knew that I wouldn't have permanent damage thanks to the healers here."

"You took care of your team well," he praised. "The cheers they gave you at the after party were well deserved. You're going to make one heck of a team leader, Val."

"Crispin, as much as I would love it, there's absolutely no way that I'm going to make it to graduation with the secret still remaining a secret. In the next two years, who I really am will get exposed. There's absolutely no way that I'm going to manage to hide it for two years."

"You might manage it." From the lack of confidence in his eyes, I knew that even he didn't believe that.

"I won't. All the family members found out in a week, and you found out about me around the same time. I haven't even been through two weeks here and already so much has happened. It'd take a miracle for the secret to be kept for two years. And once the cat is out of the bag, there's no way they'll let me graduate as a normal guardian. I don't know what they'll have installed for me, but I know that it will be chaotic and I probably won't like it."

"We'll all have your back, Val. We might all be tied with our duties here as guardians but we'll always have your back."

"That's what I'm counting on." I smiled grimly at him. "The chaos at school will be bad enough and I'll be lucky not to go mental. There'll be a lot more rumours, a lot more whacky theories as to why I've kept the truth and all that. But the worst will be when the court finds out. I'll never hear the end of it, especially from the King."

"How much do you know about him? He came to the throne after you left so you can't possibly know all that much about him."

"I know enough." I grumbled. "I knew of him from my parents. When I was a kid, they used to have these serious chats about the heirs to the throne and who they thought would be the most appropriate to succeed as the new monarch. Neither of my parents or anyone in our little family unit wanted Wrylan Dashkov to become King. He was the worst choice possible and yet by some twisted fate, he managed it. Even as I kid, I knew from the things people said about him that he was bad news. He's a total schemer which can be a good thing, but unfortunately, he is said to love abusing his scheming talent."

"How do you know that much?"

"I might have only been about ten years old, but that didn't stop me from being perceptive about things like that. I inherited that from my dad, being able to tell if someone's going to be bad news or not. It usually works and that instinct rarely fails me."

"Though it seems that you've met your match."

"Pardon?"

"Cooper."

My expression twisted into a grimace and I twiddled my thumbs nervously. "Is it really _that_ obvious? I mean, you're definitely not the first to point this out…"

"He's not an obvious choice as your partner, Val. In fact, he's a downright bizarre choice. He may appear to have a flawless reputation and generally admired by the student and teacher body, but he's not someone we'd thought that you would go for. Maxwell was more than surprised."

"I know. Joey and I had a sit down last night to talk about it."

"I told him about what I saw. I thought that I should, all things considered."

"He'd probably have tried to kill you if he found out that you saw something like that and didn't tell him." I scoffed.

"Tried being the main word," he chuckled.

"You be careful, Crispin. When it comes to being protective, Joey can suddenly get scarily skilful with fighting."

"I'll bear that in mind. So, why are you and Cooper together?"

"I've had this conversation way too many times." I groaned, pressing a hand against my face. "If my unease isn't reason enough to break off our compromise, you people badgering me to leave him is."

"Who else has voiced it?"

"You, Joey who didn't exactly state it in words but it was in his voice, Christian and Ozera."

"Chance and Ozera? You've managed to break past Chance's usually defensive but charming exterior?"

"What can I say? I'm a talented kid." I shrugged. "I'm helping him out with training. He's not half bad."

"He's one of the most talented and promising out of the dhampirs. In fact, he was the best until you came along and stole that title in a flash."

"I have my pride to uphold."

"We can see that."

"And what about Ozera? Between us teachers, we've all noticed that he's become interested in you, but to the extent of prying into your romance life? Now _that_ is surprising."

"You're also not the first one to say that." I sighed, running my hand down my face. "Martin mentioned that first along with everyone else actually. Man, when Ozera finds out, he's going to freak and definitely more than you had. You didn't freak, you just momentarily treated me like a valued treasure before I physically knocked that reaction out of you."

"Give the guy more credit, Val. He might be indifferent. He'll be surprised, but he might react the least dramatically."

"Maybe, but maybe not. That guy practically idolises the Ivashkov princess and I am nothing like anyone would've imagined I would turn out. I was a shy and anti-social and spineless kid back then for crying out loud. No one could've guessed that I'd turn out to be… well, me. Even I hadn't anticipated that."

"Life does that to people. When you're that young, it's almost impossible to know how anyone would really turn out." Crispin reasoned. "Besides, seeing how the others treat you, you probably aren't actually all that different. You might have changed a lot, but fundamentally, your heart is still the same."

I smiled wryly at him, crossing my legs at the ankles to get comfortable again. "You really do have a way with your words, don't you?"

"It's all in the art of communication."

"Kylie!"


	50. Chapter 49

**_~x~ Chapter 49 ~x~_**

Both Crispin and I turned when we heard the bubbly voice echo in the training room. I jumped down just in time to catch Trace launching into me and I wrapped my arms around him securely to support him on my hip.

"Hey, Trace. You aren't causing the guardians trouble, are you?" I teased with a light tone.

Trace shook his head fervently. "No. Al is here with me."

"He insisted on finding you as soon as possible." Ali sighed, running a hand through his hair.

As he moved, I watched as the muscle in his arm flexed and couldn't help but be somewhat startled. He was wearing a black t-shirt so his arms were relatively bare and for some reason, I couldn't tear my eyes away. He wasn't too muscular, but his muscles were evident nonetheless. This wasn't the Ali I remembered. He hadn't been lanky back then, but he hadn't really developed any noticeable muscles back then either. He didn't attract girls with his muscle power. It had been through his charm, winning smile and natural playboy-like character.

"He'd been pressurising the guardians about it since this morning apparently. We all agreed that I'd escort him to find you after all your lessons are finished," he carried on, not noticing my ogling for which I was glad. It would've been really embarrassing if he had caught me staring like that. Not to mention with Crispin and Trace with us. I blushed a little when Crispin sent me an all-knowing smirk and shifted Trace so that I could hide my embarrassment.

"Why did you want to find me so badly?" I directed the question at Trace. "Did something happen?"

I was surprised when he suddenly grabbed my face in his small hands and kissed my lips, his eyes gleaming with happiness and gratefulness. Seriously, what was it with people and kissing me to show their gratitude? A simple thank you would suffice. Nonetheless, I felt my heart warm and melt a little at the gesture and I smiled softly at him. I leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

"What was that for?" I murmured.

"You were right!" he beamed. "My big brothers aren't scary at all! They're the best brothers in the world. I'm not scared anymore. There was nothing to be scared of, just like you said."

"So you won't go running away from them anymore?"

"I won't!"

"They'll be delighted to hear that." I told him, rubbing my forehead gently against his making him giggle.

I glanced up to see a strange smile on Ali's face. It was a soft smile, but it wasn't just that. There was an odd fondness and awe and wonder about it and I wasn't sure what to make of it. Rather than thinking too hard about it, I just brushed it off and took it in stride as something that had changed about him over the years.

"Where's Maxwell?" he asked, glancing around curiously before his eyes landed on Crispin.

"He's taking a little break while we're having a little chat about training and the like."

It was a lie and Ali spotted it instantly but it couldn't be helped. As much as I loved Trace and had shown him that little trick using a bit of magic before, I couldn't risk having him overhear anything strange. Now that he was on close terms with Quinn and Jacks, as a young kid, he would definitely innocently talk about everything he'd seen and I didn't need the twins to spot anything strange about me. It was bad enough having Drew give me bizarre stares almost all the time.

"Will you be visiting again later?" Trace cut in, peering up at me with hope.

"Of course I will. I'll visit whenever you want me there, Trace." I reassured him. "How would you like to see your brothers again tonight?"

"That would be so cool!"

"I'll let them know." I laughed as I looked up at Ali. "Would that be okay?"

"I don't see why not. It should be fine but I'll run it through Guardian Belikov first."

"Cheers, Guardian Castile." I smiled gratefully at him.

"Trace, we shouldn't disturb them any longer. Let's leave Valentine to train." Ali reached out to remove Trace from my arms and I was once again caught by the flex of his muscles. Ali had really grown in the past six years. He wasn't a boy anymore… he was a man. He was a man now…

As though that sudden revelation struck a switch, I was acutely aware of him. I jumped when he gave me a pinch in the side and squealed. All three of them stared at me as though I had grown another head and I glared indignantly at Ali.

"That was mean." I complained, smacking him playfully.

"I'll see you later," he chuckled, giving me a wink.

I watched as he strolled off carrying Trace easily as the two conversed about something.

"So you and Castile, huh?" Crispin drawled and I jumped again, snapping out of my thoughts about why I was suddenly so aware of Ali.

I whirled around to see Crispin perching casually against the pile of mats and rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. "You noticed that?"

"I'm observant. You two seemed like you'd had some kind of a connection from day one."

"I'd known him since we were kids. He was my best friend."

"Just your best friend?"

"Honestly? I don't even know anymore." I scoffed. "I guess it's not just Ali who's been caught off guard by my change over the years. It just took me a little longer to notice his properly. I'd been so caught up with everything else that I didn't really notice until now."

"And what have you noticed?" Crispin arched his brows in curiosity.

"That Ali's not a kid anymore. He's grown up."

"Does that change anything?"

"Of course not!" I protested far too quickly and he looked unconvinced but didn't press it.

"Going back to my other question, you never did elaborate on what's going on with you and Cooper? You mentioned something about a compromise."

"We have a compromise, not a relationship, but it seems that the whole school has the wrong idea."

"You haven't clarified it for the rest of us."

"True and Eric's kiss after the tattoo ceremony didn't help any." I sighed. "We're not dating. I rejected that idea since I don't know him well enough but I thought that if I agreed to this compromise, it would stop his hounding. If anything, it's gotten worse. That guy really doesn't like to lose."

"He has almost always been able to get what he wanted, Val. It's no wonder that he's curious about you."

"Well, he's just going to have to learn that even the best of us don't always get what we want." I scoffed. "Now, as much as I like talking to you, I'm going to use this quiet time that I have to do some work. I love my friends and all, but even I need my quiet time once in a while."

"You guys have been pretty much glued at the hips right from the start." Crispin agreed with a chuckle.

"I'm not complaining, they're great for accepting me so quickly despite how troublesome I am. But it makes hiding stuff about my work a little harder."

"You may be troublesome, but I think we've established that you're a good girl at heart."

"Pfft, hardly." I scoffed with the roll of my eyes as I jumped off the pile of mats. "Thanks for the conversation, Crispin."

"It was important for the both of us to explain and clear some things."

"And that is precisely why Joey was being nice and letting us talk alone."

"If the privacy hadn't been important, Maxwell would've fought relentlessly to be here."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "See you around, guardian."

"Try to stay out of trouble, Valentine."

"I'll be good." I reassured him with a laugh as I left the room.

I headed back to my room first so that I could grab my laptop before trying to think of a private place where I could quickly contact my manager. Eventually, I settled for hiding out in Rosette's office where took my shoes off and curled up on the rest bed before settling down to review what my wonderful manager had planned for me.

A couple of hours flew by and I headed back to the dorms to meet the others for dinner and so that I could drop off my laptop. Dinner was pretty normal and as guessed, Quinn and Jacks really did join me at the Elementary Division and this time they actually remembered to ask Trace if he wanted to join us for the out of school dinner. To say that Trace was excited would've been an understatement. He was so happy that it took the twins half an hour at least to get him into bed and another half an hour to lull him to sleep.

Surprisingly enough, the next day went by with a flash. Shopping with Rosette and Maria wasn't as dreadful as I'd feared. Though they were a little demanding with what they wanted me to wear for the dinner with the royals, they were relatively laid back with the general shopping and didn't pressure me too much which was nice. They did however succeed in buying me a jewellery box filled to the brim with jewellery pieces and as they bought each item, I had found myself wondering when I would have to occasion to wear them. I obviously couldn't wear them all to the dinner from the sheer amount that they bought.

Thankfully, because the royal quartet and my girl friends knew that I had the dinner coming up, they didn't question the shopping trip at all and no one else really noticed my outing so there was no need to come up with an excuse.

By Friday afternoon during my free hour, I still didn't see Eric. I was somewhat surprised by his sudden lack of appearance since he'd been turning up out of the blue pretty incessantly before. As much as I wanted to clear the situation, I didn't think I was ready to confront him yet. I didn't want to feel that hopelessness again the way I had on Tuesday when he cornered me. I had yet to figure out how he managed that and knew that until I did, I was going to continue being pretty useless against him.

My body stiffened when a hand wrapped around mine and twirled my body around. As I turned, I lashed out with my fist, fully prepared to knock the living day lights out of whoever it was that grabbed me. I managed to stop myself short of breaking Drew's nose and smiled apologetically up at him as I stopped my dance routine.

"Sorry, it's a habit of mine." I murmured.

"That's alright. I had a feeling that it might startle you."

I arched my brows at that. Did he _want_ me to break his nose? If I hadn't stopped in time I really would've. "Then why not just call out to me first so I know you're here?"

"It's not every day that I get to see that kind of strange expression," he chuckled.

"What expression?"

"The 'is he on drugs?' expression."

"I can't imagine why." I commented dryly and pulled my hand from his.

I was surprised when he didn't let go and he tugged my hand closer to his face. I blushed when he flattened his hand against mine and he seemed to stare at the difference in size.

"You have tiny hands."

"You're just tall and by default have bigger hands than me."

"I'm a guy, I'm supposed to," he scoffed. "How did these tiny hands kick my ass?"

"These 'tiny hands' are about to whoop your ass to kingdom come if you keep emphasising their smallness."

"I've struck another touchy subject?"

"Another? What was the first?"

"Your pride of wanting to beat that other team."

"That's not really a touchy subject. That was just plain fact. It had to be done and who better than a girl to really thoroughly annihilate them?"

"You're pretty lethal."

"With certain people, you have to be. There's no reason to beat around the bush."

"You dance pretty well without music playing," he complimented, suddenly changing the subject.

This time, I did manage to pull my hand away and gave my head a gentle tap. "The music is all in here."

His eyes twinkled with excitement and anticipation. "Routine for a new song?"

"I do like dancing in my spare time, you know."

"Ah, but if it wasn't for a new song, then you would probably have music playing, won't you?"

I pouted as he hit the nail and crossed my arms. "You and your damn perceptiveness."

"If you let me know the tune, I could help you with your routine. You usually have a partner, right?"

I shot him a startled glance and my mouth gaped open slightly. "How did you know that?"

"I've seen pretty much every single one of your music videos. From what I've seen of your practice so far, this seems to be for 'Risqué'."

"Seriously, you know a scary amount about me."

"And yet at the same time I know nothing at all," he muttered under his breath but I heard every word.

"You know, I've been wondering this for a while. Why are you so interested? I mean, I get that I'm probably pretty interesting considering my skills as a fighter and all, but that's not really enough to catch your attention _this_ much."

"Do I really need a reason to be intrigued?"

"Normally, I don't think I would care." I admitted truthfully. "But you're a special case. The level of your interest is kind of abnormal, you know."

"Why?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to the side in confusion.

"Well… it just is, alright?" I argued stubbornly. I couldn't tell him that I knew just how intrigued he was about me because I'd been speaking to Crispin and my family about him. If I were to say that, he would start asking all these questions about how and why I was so close to the guardians and suspect me even more. That I didn't need right now.

"I meant why you care that I'm interested. You normally wouldn't care, right?"

"Are you here to help me or interrogate me?" I retorted cheekily in defence to try and divert the conversation.

He gave me a full-on smirk and I couldn't help but glare at him for it. "I can multi-task. You already know this."

He had me cornered like some prey but for some reason, I just didn't feel threatened by him. I knew that if I was really distressed, he would back off. He would be able to see it. He'd be able to tell if I was truly distressed. While I wanted to hide the truth from him at all costs, his incessant questioning wasn't really upsetting. If anything, I knew that a deep part of me was cheering at the fact that Drew was this interested.

That was how I really knew for sure that I had to get away from Eric Cooper. When I was with him, he would corner me and I would want nothing more than to get as far away from him as possible. I wouldn't be cheering in the back of my mind because of his attention. Strangely, I'd be cringing away from it if I could. This was nothing like that initial attraction to a cool looking guy. Sure, I was somewhat attracted by his looks at first, but not anymore.

Now that I thought about it, I was really stupid to think that agreeing to this compromise would get him off my back. Why did I even think that he could be like those guys from back at the human school who would back off after just one kiss?

"Kylie?" Drew murmured, his hands holding my face. I blinked and noticed how close he was. He was bent down so that we were at eye level and was so close that I could even feel his breath fanning my face.

"You know, I think I don't even need a whole hand to count the number of times you've said my name since it's so rare." I joked.

"What can I say?" he whispered, staring at me with that intense gleam of his again. "It just doesn't seem right."

My breath caught in my throat and my mind completely blanked. All I could think about was how he knew. He might not have been certain, but deep down, some part of him knew the truth. He just didn't who exactly I was. But there was no doubt that Drew Ozera knew that I wasn't who I said I was. I couldn't fool him. I hadn't managed to convince him to believe in my lie the way I had with everyone else.

I stared back at him, wide eyed. Tears began gathering due to the dryness of my eyes. I really did need to change my contacts soon. Despite the pain of keeping my eyes open, I just couldn't tear them away from his captivating eyes. I couldn't recall ever being this close to him before. Then again, if we were, that would probably have caused a scandal, now or back then.

His eyes weren't just blue. They were the type of eyes that changed colour slightly depending on the light or his emotions. At the moment, they were a somewhat darker shade of blue than usual. It didn't make them any duller. If anything his eyes seemed more empowering now than ever before. Usually, his eyes shined brightly like crystals regardless of how much light there was.

I pulled away from him, unease settling in my pit of my stomach. I might not particularly like Eric but it wouldn't be fair on him if Drew and I were caught being this close. When I was at a more respectable distance from him I could breathe normally again.

Gathering my wits once more, I arched my brows at him. "What are you doing here? You're banned from training."

Drew took my change of topic in stride and didn't push it which I was thankful for. "I might not be able to train, but I can still watch. Who better to steal moves from than you and the renowned best guardian pair in this academy?"

"Hey, no stealing moves." I protested, punching his arm lightly. "I worked hard perfecting and developing them. I'd be in trouble if you got any better at fighting."

"I think your position as the best fighter in our year and maybe even the school is pretty safe," he grunted, rolling his eyes at me. "Your recklessness to try just about any move is kind of terrifying in itself. It makes you pretty unpredictable. You tend to come up with moves that I thought was impossible."

"You've clearly not watched enough combat movies." I smirked at him. "Recklessness to try just about any move, huh?"

"Not many of us flip over people as much as you do."

"That is true. You guys should try it sometime. It comes in handy in the stickiest situations."

"So, why the dance routine rather than training? Not that you need so much extra training."

"They weren't to know when they arranged my schedule at the beginning that I would be such a good fighter." I scoffed. "Besides, one could never have too much training so long as it's in moderation. Fighting against both Maxwell and Jensen really helps refine my skill."

"Your skill needs refining? Tell that to someone who can tell the difference."

"I would, but they're usually too insane to take note of what I'm really saying."

His face fell and apology gleamed in his eyes. "Are you constantly thinking of the worst?"

"Of course not!" I blinked in surprise, wondering why he would say that. "I think of myself as a pretty optimistic person, thank you very much."

"Then why don't you accept the idea that you are strong enough?"

"Because none of us ever are." I told him emphatically. "It doesn't matter how many times we've survived against them. One mistake is all they'll need. I can't afford to slacken, not even a little."

"The security of the world doesn't rest on your shoulders alone. You have to remember that."

"I know that." I let out a heavy breath and ran my hand through my hair, suddenly feeling stressed for some reason. "I do know that. I really do. But I just can't rest easy."

"Is there a particular reason why? You certainly don't come across as someone who stresses out constantly."

"I don't do it constantly," I retorted with a snort and he shot me an amused glance. "But you have to admit, the security around this place is as good as it can get but it definitely isn't enough. Not considering how many Moroi there are here, especially with so many of you royals attending one school. You'd think that since there are so many royals here concentrated in one place, they'd have more guards here."

"St. Vlad's has more guardians stationed here compared to any other Academy."

"That's not enough!" I snapped, throwing my hands up.

Emotion coiled through me. Stress had never been good for me. When I was really stressed about something, Eric being the cause this time, it would really drain me and make me more retaliate than usual. I would become easily influenced by my emotions. The need to break it off with Eric had been weighing heavily on my mind since I spoke to Christian and Crispin.

It'd been two days now.

Not to mention, while Drew probably had no ill intentions, his suspicious gaze and questioning was taking a toll on me emotionally. Everything just boiled and scrunched together into one massive clump. I couldn't get my emotions in check. I couldn't untangle the stress.

I was a state.

And I hated it.


	51. Chapter 50

**_~x~ Chapter 50 ~x~_**

I dug my hands through my hair and took deep breaths. I watched mutely as he took my hands gently but firmly away from my head and just held them between us. He didn't do anything. Didn't say anything. He simply held my hands and looked at me. Recognition was there in his eyes and it terrified me. Why did he recognise me? It didn't make any sense. No one knew me personally enough to be able to recognise the way I reacted and behaved now. No one except for my little family unit.

So why did Drew Ozera seem to pick up so much?

It just wasn't fair when I built up more defences around him than when I was with anyone else. I didn't have to be nearly as careful and cautious around others as Drew since I knew that they wouldn't be able to see the signs. Most people wouldn't see the sign even if it smacked them in the face simply because they didn't pay attention to me back then. All they knew was I was useless and pretty pathetic. I used to be rather invisible and I'd somewhat accepted that.

But why did Drew know?

"You're strong enough to pretty much take on the world," he murmured softly. "But you shouldn't try to take that kind of burden. It would kill you."

"I don't try to…" I mumbled. "I just get overwhelmed with that need to protect everything around me. Have you ever felt that?"

He looked pensive for a moment before he nodded eventually. "I didn't used to. When I was younger, I used to just take things for granted. I took guardians for granted and although there were still attacks happening, I used to stupidly believe that we were untouchable because we were royals so we'd have the best protection. But that attack on the school really woke me up in a lot of ways. I knew that I couldn't just sit around doing nothing anymore."

I bit my tongue to hold the retort back. I'd been about to tell him that he never came across as someone who took things for granted. Nor was he stupid. Six years ago, he might still have been a kid, but he was definitely not stupid.

"You're hardly stupid, Ozera. I don't think the word stupid could be used to describe you."

"Was that an indirect compliment?" he chuckled.

"Maybe." I gave him a playful grin. "Depends on how you want to look at it."

"When you ignore questions, is it usually a conscious thing or subconscious?"

"Which one haven't I answered this time?"

"How come Maxwell and Jensen aren't 'refining your skills' as you call it?"

"Oh, Maxwell was asked by another student for extra training. It didn't really matter to me so much whether we had this training session or not so I just suggested cancelling it and I could make the most of this free time to get some choreography done."

"A song for Risqué?"

"Yes, Mister Genius."

"Do you usually choreograph the dances yourself?"

"Not always, I have a choreographer I work with quite a lot and he'd help us out with the dances for Risqué's songs."

"How long have you been dancing?"

"About two years I think. I can move pretty easily because of my training. I had to hone my dancing skills pretty intensively at the beginning though. What about you?"

"I've been dancing for a long time. It was the one thing I loved as a kid, I think."

"One thing? That's kind of sad…" I muttered.

"It was better than running around like a headless chicken, not knowing what I liked and letting others control my likes and dislikes. The royal system tends to do that to young royal children."

I snorted and just barely managed to hold my retort back. He couldn't have been more right about that. In that one week following my parents' death, the royals were ruthless, trying to manipulate me anyway they could without my dad's protection anymore. Even before they had passed away, the other royals would often try to find me alone at court. They would try to manipulate me into what they wanted me to become.

I hated every moment of that. As soon as Dad noticed what was happening, he stopped letting me walk around court alone. In fact, I stopped going to court as often as was allowed for a royal.

"That sounds pretty ruthless." I said eventually.

"I only suffered the tip of the iceberg."

"You mean they could actually get worse?"

Again, he just stared at me with that intense stare of his but thankfully he didn't keep silent this time. Instead, he just changed the topic altogether. In the back of my mind, I wondered if he actually knew what he was doing to me.

"How did your shopping trip go, yesterday? Did you manage to find something?"

"Finding something appropriate wasn't the problem." I grumbled, running a hand through my hair. "Fighting Valiere and Salvatore was."

"You fought? About what? I doubt it was a physical fight."

"They were kind of terrifyingly eccentric about shopping. They kept shoving dresses after dresses at me, telling me that I had to buy them. And don't even get me started on the shoes and accessories. I tell you, those two could bankrupt someone in under a day with their shopping habits."

I shuddered at the idea of giving them free reign of money. It was a good thing that I knew what kind of style I was going for to attend the dinner. If I didn't, Rosette and Maria would've taken full advantage and tried to push my style boundaries.

"I didn't think there would be a day that I would find out there's someone who could compete with my sister in terms of bankrupting her family because of fashion expenses." Drew grumbled, running a hand through his hair.

"Since I don't know your sister, I have no idea how eccentric she gets with shopping, but I suspect that those two paired up might just be able to give your sister a run for her money."

"Let's just hope that the three of them don't go on a shopping trip together. The mall will end up selling out."

"Now that would be a sight! I can just imagine the look on the shop employee's faces!" I laughed.

I was surprised by the somewhat warm smile he sent my way and turned away quickly, wondering if there was something on my face.

"So how about you hum the tune of your new song and tell me about it?" he suggested sneakily.

"You really don't give up, do you, Ozera?" I drawled.

He smirked and gave a nonchalant shrug. "I guess that makes the both of us."

I pursed my lips and thought about it. I thought back to the way he could move when he danced and knew that I would need his help. Without my dance choreographer here to instruct me, I was running out of ideas on what I could do for this new promotional video. Annoyingly, I had to admit that he was a better dancer than I was with more tricks and moves up his sleeve than I did.

"No way in hell." I told him eventually. "It's too risky here but you can hear it and hum it in your head." I passed him my iPod and headphones. "Track 3."

I was surprised when he suddenly pulled me to him and spun me away. He smirked at my stumble and adjusted himself to make sure that I didn't fall. "Follow my lead," he told me simply and he really began to move.

As much as I didn't think it was possible. Drew was actually a much better dancer than my choreographer. He showed me moves that I didn't think would be possible and somehow he ignited my competitive spirit and we ended up having an intense dance-off. By the end of it I was completely knackered and fell onto my back, breathing heavily to try and get my breath back.

"So it seems that there is something I am better at," he chuckled, sitting beside me.

"At least I know that I could still kick your ass." I retorted, pouting.

"You really do enjoy that fact, don't you?"

"I pride myself in being a good fighter." I told him simply. "Before dinner, there's something I want to do. Do you know where I can find Eric?"

I didn't think that it would be possible for the temperature to plummet considering how Drew was a fire specialist, but goosebumps scattered across my skin as tension rose. I looked up to see the dark and anxious gleam in his eyes.

"Drew?"

"I'm surprised that you have to ask. I would've thought that you'd know."

"Well I don't. Hence I'm asking." I grumbled. "Seriously, why do you have to get all dark and angry whenever Eric is the topic of conversation?"

"I told you, it's not my story to tell," he told me, his voice stiffening.

I gave a heavy sigh and sat up so that I could grab his hand. With brute force, I tugged him down and he fell onto his butt with a thump. He shot me a glare and rubbed his back a little. "That was unnecessary," he complained.

"You care, I get it." I reasoned with him. "But get your nose out of it. I can take care of myself, Ozera. You seem like the type of person to get in too deep when people you care about are concerned. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but it's not a good habit to have either."

"Is it bad that I want to look out for my friends?"

"It's not a bad thing. But just remember not to get in too deep. You're a little intense when you care so much."

"So are you telling me to just sit back and watch when I know that something is heading for disaster?"

I gave a frustrated groan and smacked him in the shoulder. "I take my earlier comment back. You really do have your stupid moments after all. Either that or you're too damned stubborn to listen."

"I'm not being stupid," he protested.

"You really are." I told him firmly. "I'm not telling you to just sit back and do nothing. I'm telling you to just ease off a little. You keep telling me that I'm a tough girl, so believe that I can take care of myself. You've been giving me enough advice and warnings already. I'd be an idiot not to take them into account."

"So you're going to do something about it?"

"I'm not talking about this kind of thing with you."

"You're getting embarrassed," he pointed out, shifting closer until I could feel his breath on my face.

"I get flustered easily, I admit it now." I grumbled, pulling away to keep a reasonable distance. "Happy?"

"I didn't think that I'd meet someone so stubborn again."

"There are a lot of stubborn people in the world, it's not just me, you know?"

"So, are you going to do something about it?"

"Seriously, you just won't give up."

"You make rather interesting expressions, Valentine."

"So do you, although yours are usually irritating all-knowing smirks." I complained.

"If you find Ingrid, you can find out where Tom is and he'll be able to tell you where Eric is." Drew told me suddenly.

I blinked in surprise since I didn't think that he would actually get around to telling me how I could find Eric. "Thanks. I'll see you guys at dinner."

"Stay on your guard, Valentine," he advised me sternly.

"You make it sound like I'm heading into a fight."

"With Eric, I wouldn't be surprised. He doesn't like letting things slip out of his grasp."

"I've come to realise that about him but he's just going to learn that he can't always have things going his way."

Drew handed back my iPod and he simply watched me as I left the training room. As I headed back to the dorms to find Ingrid, I was surprised to bump into Eric considering how I hadn't seen him for the past couple of days.

"Hey there, Kylie," he drawled, giving me a charming smile. He wrapped his arms around my waist and his lips moulded over mine. At first, I kept my lips shut, fighting against his kiss, but then one of his hands found my jaw and clenched, prying my mouth open to him.

I mustered my strength and pushed him away. "We need to talk, Eric."

"You sound rather serious there, Kylie."

"I can't keep our compromise anymore."

"Have you found someone else you like?"

"No, but I don't want this. I'd rather we just went back to the way things were."

"That's a pretty tough request you have for me, Kylie. You haven't given me a fair chance."

"Eric, I don't want to sleep with you." I told him bluntly. "You don't want to get to know me, do you?"

"That's hardly fair when you haven't given me enough time."

"You've had plenty of time to try." I tried to reason with him.

"I can see that you're quite uncomfortable, Kylie so I won't push you any further," he sighed, running a hand through his hair but before his arm obstructed my view of his eyes, I saw the feral fury shimmering in those orbs. Deep down, I began to wonder if I'd somehow unleashed a monster. Was this really as easy as it seemed? Was I making the right choice?

"Thank you, Eric. I'm sorry about this."

"I thought we could work out."

"We both want different things."

"So it seems," he murmured.

"You never really wanted me as a girlfriend, did you?" I asked cautiously.

"I like you, Kylie," he told me so earnestly that I began to doubt myself. "I really do, but it seems that you don't feel the same way."

"It's just too soon. This is only my second week here. I'm still trying to get to know people."

"Maybe another time then?" he suggested.

Caution stirred. From the tone of voice he used, it didn't seem like there was a maybe but more like he would make it happen again. I didn't know why he was so certain that there would be another chance.

"Don't you feel anything for me?" he asked suddenly, moving closer, so close that I had to back away. Something flashed across his eyes and he followed my movement until he backed me up against the wall. "Isn't there something between us?" he whispered, his breath on my lips.

My mouth went dry, my mind blanked, my body slackened when I looked into his eyes. His leg pried between mine, keeping my body upright. Eric's body pressed into me and he dipped down until out lips were mere millimetres away.

"Eric, stop…" I spoke. Even to my ears it sounded like a feeble protest. In fact, it was downright pathetic.

"Kylie, give me more of a chance. It's hardly been fair when we've barely spent time together."

"You've had the whole week and all you've done is press me up against the wall."

"Or the ground," he added cheekily, his nose brushing my cheek as his lips sought for my ear.

"That's not helping your case."

"I didn't have yesterday. I had intended to find you for a movie but you were out shopping."

I stiffened and pulled my head away from him. "How did you know about that?"

"I asked your friends where I could find you and they said that you were out shopping. So you've gotten yourself invited to a royal dinner, congratulations."

Again, I really didn't like the snide tone he used. It was almost as though he was jealous but refusing to distinctly show it. "It wasn't intentional, it just sort of happened."

"Considering how close you are with the guys, it was only a matter of time that you caught their parents' attention."

"You make it sound like I planned this." I demanded, pushing him away. "I'm not such a calculative person, Eric, but it seems that you are."

"Being calculating can be useful in our community."

"It's a sad and a cruel way to live for you and those around you." I warned him. "We're not pawns at your disposal for you to use as you please."

"It's worked well enough so far," he said, completely unfazed by my warning.

"It's not going to work with me, Eric. I can promise you that."

"That's a shame, Kylie," he murmured, pressing close to me once more. "We could take over the royal courts, you and I."

"I didn't take you for a 'take over the world' kind of guy."

"I'll admit that I didn't think too seriously about that idea until you came along."

Frowning, I pursed my lips. "I don't see how I fit into this equation."

"You have determination that I don't see in many other people's eyes, Kylie. I thought that we could work out, but I guess not."

"No, so can you please back up? You've got a terrible habit of just pressing people against the wall."

"What can I say? You just have that effect on me."

"It's a bad habit, Eric. You should learn to tame it."

"You really are different. Girls have never complained before."

"There's always a first for everything." I scoffed. "Seriously, Eric, back up."

"In a moment," he whispered before pressing his lips against mine. His fingers clenched against my jaw, prying my mouth open. I gasped in shock when I felt his teeth scrape against my tongue and bottom lips.

I slammed my hands into his chest, shoving him away. He stumbled back with a wheeze and anger swirled in his eyes. My breath caught once more as his gaze bore into mine and I fell to my knees. He was pressing into me in a heartbeat and this time his lips sought my ear lobe, his fingers digging into my waist, scratching my back beneath my shirt hard enough to draw blood.

I shuddered and tried to push him away but for some reason my body wasn't listening to me. "Give into it, Kylie. Give into me," he chanted, his voice settling heavily in my mind.

His fangs pierced my ear lobe and I felt the blood drip onto my neck. Instantly, his lips and tongue followed, lapping up the red liquid from my skin. My body began to grow hot and for a brief moment, I felt like I was losing myself. Fear gripped me when his fangs brushed against my neck, scraping but not hard enough to break the skin thought certainly enough to leave marks.

Why was I letting him do this to me?

Before he could really bite me, he was suddenly yanked away and I looked up to see a furious headmaster glaring down at Eric.

"To my office. Now!" Martin commanded with a voice simmering with anger. "Valentine, get to the infirmary."

I watched as Eric walked away, not a single hint of remorse in his eyes. If anything, the gleam seemed to say that this wasn't over and that he would get what he wanted. Eric Cooper really was far too persistent for his own good.

Martin sent me a concerned glance, his eyes still swirling with fury at what Eric was trying to do. It was forbidden for a Moroi to bite a dhampir in school and Eric was definitely pushing to break the rules. Numbly, I picked myself up and headed for Rosette's office in the infirmary. Boy was I in for an earful.


	52. Chapter 51

**_~x~ Chapter 51 ~x~_**

Thankfully, I didn't bump into anyone on the way to Rosette's office and I managed to straighten my clothes a little before entering. She was at my side in an instant before I even stepped through the door and I had a sudden sense of déjà vu. I vaguely recalled that she'd done something similar when I first saw her again on Monday.

"Martin has already texted me the vague outline. What happened, Kalani?" she demanded, sitting me down on the bed in front of her.

Her finger found my lip and a small stab of pain coursed through me. "It's just a cut, Rosette."

"It's fang made."

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine, Kalani. You look confused, agitated and angry."

I stared at her in surprise before giving her a wry smile. "You're reading my aura again, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. It's the only way to get the truth out of you. It was the same back then and it looks like that hasn't changed."

"It's nothing to worry about." I tried to reassure her.

"Kalani, Martin found you being pressed against the wall by a senior Moroi who was about to sink his fangs into your neck. I highly doubt that this was with your permission." Rosette told me flatly. "I understand that you don't want to worry us, Kalani. But you've got to let us get concerned about something like this. Don't try to bear everything on your shoulders like before. It's not healthy."

"Sorry…" I murmured, leaning forward to rest my forehead against her shoulder. "I just don't know what happened."

"Tell me about it, Kalani. We were all surprised that there was so much talk about you and Eric Cooper being together. He just didn't seem like your type."

"Why does everyone seem to know what my type is?" I questioned, giggling.

"Because we know you and we know what you're like. We know what kind of person you can't stand and I would say that Eric Cooper falls into that category." Rosette scoffed.

"You know, when I think about it, you're right."

"So how did you two turn into an item?"

"We're not together." I sighed wearily, wondering just how many times I've had this conversation now.

"Of course not! I'd have examined your head if you told me you two were still together after what he tried to do."

"No, I meant that we were never together."

Rosette pushed me away till we were at arms' length and she just stared at me. "Explain."

"We weren't a couple. We weren't going out. We just had some kind of a compromise. We were seeing each other so that he could prove that we were good for each other and until I found someone that I actually liked, we would keep the compromise going."

"He managed to coerce you into something like that?"

"I guess so."

"That's not like you, Kalani."

"I know."

"So what happened?"

"I have no idea." I admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. "I guess I just thought that he'd be just like any other guy and back off once he got that initial satisfaction of getting me. I just thought that his fascination would be over after a few days. It was like that with most of the guys who used to pester me."

"Adolescent boy fascination, huh?" she sighed. "Some things never change."

"Did you have a lot of admirers too when you were at school?" I asked curiously.

With a blush on her face, she gave a small nod. "But they were mainly fascinated about my Spirit rather than getting to know me."

"I guess we both know how that feels." I grumbled.

"Martin mentioned that you were hurt, show me."

"Its fine, Rosette. It's just minor stuff that won't take longer than a day to heal."

Rosette pinned me with a stern stare. "Kalani, show me your wounds and let me disinfect them at least."

Giving a resigned sigh, I removed my top and showed her my back. From her sharp intake of breath, I could only guess that the scratches were harsher looking than they felt. "I'm sure it looks worse than it really is. I don't feel a thing." I reassured her.

"It's probably just the blood smudges that make it look so horrible," she murmured. "This is out of line, Kalani."

"It's alright. I'll whoop his ass for trying such a thing on me."

"You are taking this far too lightly."

"I'm not. That's why I told him I can't keep our compromise anymore."

"He deserves more than that for this. I know that teenagers can get a little… frisky sometimes but it is ridiculous for a Moroi to draw blood like this in plain sight."

"Rosette, in this school 'plain sight' means nothing depending on who you are." I scoffed. "I would say for people like Eric, public display of affection is almost expected of him just because that's the way he is."

"But you are not that type of person, are you?"

"I wouldn't shove it people's faces. But a chaste kiss every now and then isn't a problem for me. Pushing me up against the wall like that however is."

"This is probably one of the shortest relationships I've ever heard of."

"It wasn't a relationship." I corrected bluntly. "Besides, I've seen people get together for a day and then break up by the end of it. We live in one heck of a quick paced world, Rosette."

"So it seems," she sighed as she finished off disinfecting my back. "Though you and Prince Ozera seem to be taking your sweet time."

I coughed in shock and spluttered. Swirling around, I gaped at her.

"What?" I squealed.

"Kalani, I can read your aura remember? You are clearly affected by him."

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"Maybe not, but you do care about him, no?"

"Ozera is different. Considering the way things have turned out, it'd be hard not to be affected by him."

"What do you mean by 'the way things have turned out'?"

"Well, as everyone's seen already, he's interested in me because I don't make sense. He wants to know what I'm hiding and that in turn means he randomly pops up out of nowhere and we end up being alone to talk quite a few times."

"You two do seem very close, Kalani."

"I suppose we are." I pondered aloud. "We seem to understand each other somewhat effortlessly so that makes a lot of things easier for us to talk about."

"Do you think something is likely to happen?"

"I'm not one for trying to predict the future, Rosette. Anything could happen."

"Then let me rephrase: do you _want_ something to happen?" she asked, staring at me seriously.

I sagged a little under her persistent gaze and bit my lower lip. "There is chemistry," I whispered, "I can't deny that. But with everything that's going on and my secret, I kind of just want to take it a day at a time without over analysing my feelings too much. If my heart swings towards him, then let it, if not, then oh well."

"Prince Ozera is a wonderful guy, Kalani. He will not be single forever."

"Rosette, if we're so good for each other, then we'll get together eventually perhaps. But right now, it wouldn't be fair for either of us considering I'm still hiding such a big secret from him."

"Alright, I won't push it." Rosette sighed. "I just don't want you to regret it."

"I think I would regret it more if I were to start something now and then he found out the truth half way through. He's been pretty open with me as to what he thinks about the Ivashkov princess. He'd probably feel betrayed if he were to find out while we were in a relationship who I really am. It wouldn't be fair on him at all."

"You've grown to be a lot more outspoken about your consideration for others, Kalani," she complimented with a warm smile as she brushed her hand through my hair. "You used to be considerate, but you'd never be able to say it out loud. You'd leave it for others to try and figure out your strange actions and by then they end up misinterpreting your intentions."

"I didn't mind it too much. Sure it was a little lonely sometimes but since I had such wonderful people with me, I didn't feel too bad. Besides, Ali made sure that I never felt too lonely."

"Ah yes, Alistair has certainly changed." Rosette sent me a teasing smile.

I tilted my head to the side in confusion, wondering why she would suddenly bring that up now. "I thought we had already established that?"

"I am saying that his impression of you has changed."

"I know that too. He's finally come to terms that I'm not just a pipsqueak who needed taking care of."

"Kalani, you're avoiding the point. You know exactly what I mean but perhaps you have yet to admit the realisation to yourself."

I just stared blankly at her. Damn it. Rosette always could read me like an open book more than anyone else partly due to her aura reading skills but also due to her natural perceptiveness. I was sure my face went through several shades of red and couldn't help hiding behind my hands. "Is it that obvious?"

"I'm not sure if the others have noticed it just yet but I am sure that Alistair has begun to realise it himself. He doesn't look at you as a kid anymore."

"Neither do I." I mumbled from behind my hands.

"You don't?" she teased.

"How can I when he's got all these muscles that just about scream masculinity?" I complained, throwing my hands up into the air. "I mean, I always knew that he was a guy but… but now he's a _man_, Rosette. He understands responsibility now. Ali has matured a lot over the years."

"So you've noticed?"

"I've been noticing it for the past few days like it's the end of the world. I feel so… so conscious of everything all of a sudden and it's driving me nuts! Before, I could tell him anything, but I obviously can't talk about something like this with him."

"Kalani, don't over think it. Like you said earlier, just let your heart move naturally rather than over analysing it too much. Unfortunately, it is a female habit to over analyse emotions just a little too much." Rosette advised me with a motherly tone. "Don't let the fact that you'd known him in the past affect you too much. Don't let it cloud how you might feel now."

"I'll try not to…" I trailed off quietly. "But it's not going to be easy. When I'm with Ali, it's just so damn easy to slip back into the past and be as carefree as we were back then. But then out of the blue in between our casualness there'd be the odd moment of intensity."

"Just try your best not to stress over it. The last thing Alistair would want is for you to become stressed out because of the slight change in behaviour."

"You probably wouldn't find two people hating stress more than Ali and I do." I laughed, stretching out on the bed to release the tension in my muscles. Turning to my side so that I could see Rosette, I gave her a wide beaming smile. "What would I do without you, Rosette?"

She laughed softly the way she always used to and patted my head gently. "Most likely you'd over think a lot of things and worry too much to the extent that your mind imploded."

I couldn't help but grin at that. "You're probably right about that. I remember that for a while after I ran away, the first year was really tough. I was trying desperately to become comfortable with myself, to prove to myself that I was really strong enough to make it through my decision. The number of times I fell ill in that first year due to worrying too much can't be counted on one hand. It was pretty ridiculous so I slowly managed to break out of that habit."

"You used to get ill because of thinking too much?"

"Yeah," I admitted sheepishly. "I think they have a name for that kind of fever but what it might be I have no idea."

"That's silly of you, Kalani."

"I can't exactly control when I'm struck by illness. It just happens."

"What are you going to do about Alistair?"

I pursed my lips and thought about it carefully. "Nothing," I said eventually. "I won't run away from it but I don't want the chemistry to kill our friendship."

"Kalani, neither you nor Alistair would allow something like that to happen. You'll both be able to sense the change when the time comes and if it should ever get to the point where it's putting a strain on your relationship, you two will fix it."

"I should hope so." I sighed. "Anyway, enough about me. You and Martin still haven't budged an inch."

"It's only been a week."

"Rosette, it's been at least eleven years. At least." I corrected pointedly. "I won't pressure you guys any more than this if you really hate it. But I don't want to never see you two get together. That will just be too sad. I want you two to be happy, and even still, I have never seen either of you smile brighter than when you're together."

"With the exception of the day you returned." Rosette rectified.

"Fine, besides that." I scoffed. "Either way, it'd be ridiculous for the two of you to remain single for the rest of your lives just because you're both too shy to take a step forward."

"Kalani, he has a school to run and I have students to take care of. We can't just decide to stop working one day and go out."

"No, but you can in the evenings." I reasoned. "I know that both of you care about your work, but I also know that you know how to rest and most of the evenings neither of you work."

"But what will others think? If we spend time together here at the school, people will notice."

"Somehow, I don't think people will care too much. If anything, they'd probably all be cheering for the fact that you two have finally gotten together. Seriously, I bet even elementary school kids could sense the chemistry between you two." I scoffed.

"You're exaggerating."

"I'm not."

"Elementary kids?"

"I'm serious. They're surprisingly perceptive, you know?"

"I'll take your word for it," she sighed in defeat. "You do spend a lot of time at that division, Kalani."

"What can I say? I love little Trace too much. He's just too damn adorable. If think if Jacks and Quinn hadn't decided to wise up, I just might have considered adopting the little kid to be my brother."

"You two sure do seem to have a strange attachment to each other since the first moment."

"Trace kind of reminded me of me, I suppose. When I first met him, he was scared to approach the other kids and join in with the fun. He's got a whole lot of sadness in him having lost his mother and all and he's got a really big heart. Trace is a lovely kid."

"Without intentionally having favourites, Trace has always been the centre of Alistair's attention since the day he arrived. It seems that you two still have the same likes as before."

"Apparently so." I grinned. "Rosette, I have a favour to ask."

She looked surprised for a moment before her brows furrowed in concern. "What is it?"

"Could you go to Martin's office and calm him down? I have a feeling that he'd be seething with rage and attempt to tear Eric to shreds."

Her lips pursed and her gaze hardened. "Kalani, Martin should tear Eric to shreds."

"Martin is supposed to be impartial as the Headmaster. I understand that he will enforce strict consequences on Eric for breaking the rules but he has to remain impartial. Can you tell him that I'm perfectly fine because I am and discreetly remind him that I am not the Ivashkov princess right now?"

Rosette looked pensive for several moments and for a moment I thought that she was going to refuse, but then I saw her gaze falter and I knew that I had made my point. Rosette of all people would know just how furious Martin would be and the sanctions he would impose would be too much bearing in mind that I was supposed to be just a simple dhampir in training.

Eventually, she gave a heavy sigh and nodded. "I had better go now. Enough time has already passed and no doubt Martin will have done his worst. I do hope that Eric wouldn't suspect after this ordeal."

"I doubt Martin would let anything crucial slip."

"Let's hope so. We don't need anyone else knowing about your identity, let alone Eric Cooper, especially after what he's done."

"I totally agree with you on that. While you do that, I think I'm going to head off to dinner."

"Try to stay away from being injured, Kalani. A girl's body should be taken care of."

"That would make perfect sense in the human world but here where there are so many female dhampirs training to be guardians? I just can't agree with you on that, Rosette."

"Just try," she insisted emphatically.

"Alright, I promise to try." I gave in when I heard the motherly tone of hers.

I pulled her in for a tight hug and I could barely feel the scratches on my back as she wrapped her arms around me. I sent her a reassuring smile as we headed off in different directions in the hallway outside of her office and made my way to the dining hall since it would be dinner time right about now.

I was surprised when Joe suddenly grabbed arm and tugged me away when he spotted me. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone around so it wouldn't look suspicious but I was somewhat worried about the thunderous expression on his face. I silently braced myself for a lecture and knew that I would be getting the same treatment from the others as soon as they heard from Martin about what he had seen.

Joe dragged me straight to Aunty Jules' main office and I was surprised to see Maria and Crispin already waiting there.

"Are you alright?" the three of them chimed as soon as I walked in and Joe shut the door firmly behind him.

I slapped my hand to my face, cursing at the situation. I should've known that this would happen when Martin caught Eric. If Rosette had known before I even stepped into his office, of course the others would've heard about the incident as well.

"I'm fine." I reassured them.

"This is worse than how Jensen found you, Kai." Joe narrowed his eyes at me. "Has he been progressing in that direction right from the start?"

"Joey, its fine. I guess he just sort of lost patience since he seems so used to getting what he wants right off the bat and I wasn't cooperating."

"It isn't fine, little sky, when you are found with scratches on your back and a bleeding lip." Joe corrected. "Did you know that he was aiming for your blood?"

I stayed silent for a while since I didn't want to answer them. Now that I thought about it, Eric did seem oddly interested in biting me right from the start. I recalled how he seemed to always linger on my neck more than necessary and I remembered having to tell him to back off and that I wasn't into that kind of thing.

Joe swore and pushed his hand through his hair. "Why didn't you say anything, little sky?"

"It didn't seem that out of the ordinary. All Moroi lads are interested in biting a dhampir girl from school. It's second nature to them. Remember when you first found me? Remember how I punched Jacks, Quinn and Dan? That was because they were less than a second away from feeding from them."

"It may not be out of the ordinary to have the curiosity." Aunty Jules cut in. "But it's one thing to have the curiosity and another to actually try to make it happen."

"Why didn't you say anything? You must've known that something was wrong the moment you caught on that he wanted to bite you." Maria asked.

"I… I guess I just shrugged it off for a while as a lads' thing. Like how human boys would try and get girls into bed, this was just something normal…"

"It's not normal, Val." Crispin tried to explain to me. "Cooper's interest in you isn't normal. You'd begun to realise that yourself."

"What's this?" Aunty Jules pinned me with a steely glare. "You'd noticed that something was off and you didn't back away straight away!"

"Aunty Jules, please don't shout." I told her placatingly. "I'd rather no one else heard this conversation."

"Skylar, why didn't you leave him as soon as you sensed something was off?"

"Because I needed a justified reason."

"Being creeped out by him isn't reason enough?"

"For Eric Cooper? No. He'd need something more than that."

"So you just waited until he pushed it too far? Is that it?" Maria demanded furiously.

"I didn't think enough about it until everyone started questioning it." I protested. "I thought I'd be able to handle him just like any adolescent guy out there."

"This might be an insensitive question, Val, but why didn't you just strike him as soon as you realised what he was doing?"

"I didn't know what he was doing until it was too late. I was about to hit him when Martin stepped in and yanked him away."

Crispin gave me an unconvinced stare and Joe caught it straight away. "Tell us the truth, little sky. What the hell happened earlier?"

"You weren't about to hit him away, were you?" Crispin thought out loud. "You were waiting for someone to step in because you couldn't fight him off just like when I found you by the statue the other day."

"This happened before?" Aunty Jules asked sharply. "Why don't I know about this?"

"It was only a few days ago." I tried to justify.

"A few days are more than enough time to notify me of these things," she snapped. "You are for all intents and purposes a dhampir in training here therefore you are under my protection and I am responsible for your wellbeing. That means being notified when something is amiss and being caught helpless and needing help is certainly something that needs to be reported to me."

I was startled when the door suddenly slammed open. I whirled around to see who it might be to see a somewhat scarily furious Ali storming towards me. He turned me around and lifted my shirt up to inspect my back. He swore loud and colourfully and turned on his heel. Instincts rushing forth, I grabbed him before he could disappear out of the office and most likely towards Martin's to beat the crap out of Eric.


	53. Chapter 52

**_~x~ Chapter 52 ~x~_**

"Ali, Ali, calm down!" I squealed, holding onto him as tightly as I could and trying desperately to hold my ground as he continued to walk dragging me with him.

Luckily, Joe stepped in and shut the door before Ali could get out and I somehow manage to throw Ali onto the floor using some kind of Judo move I'd learnt a while back.

"Alster, seriously, cool it." I whispered, brushing my hands against his cheeks. "I'm fine. I'm totally fine."

"That bastard is going to be shot and torn to a million pieces, little sky," he growled. "I swear it, if I see him, he's dead. If I hear that he so much as gets within six metres of you, I'm going to stake him."

I shuddered at the idea of getting on Ali's bad side and remembered just how protective he used to be in the past. When Ali got seriously protective, he got violent and rather scarily so. He wouldn't just kill someone who hurt someone he cared about. He'd think of a way to make them suffer a million times worse than their offense. That was the kind of person Ali was and it seemed that that part of him hadn't changed.

I jumped when I felt a hand brush against my cheek and I blinked down at him. For a moment guilt and sadness flashed across his features before he became apologetic. Ali sat up, tugged me down to join him on the floor and sat me between his legs casually. His arms wound around my waist and he rested his forehead against mine.

"Sorry, I scared you, didn't I?" he murmured.

"Just a little." I admitted sheepishly with a small smile. "But I imagine that we all get pretty scary when we get that angry. You're actually burning up in anger, Alster."

"He picked the wrong girl to try and mess with, Kalster. I swear it, if he even thinks about trying anything on you again he's going to wish that he had never been born."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Alright, Alistair, have you calmed down a bit?" Aunty Jules asked him, poking him with her foot with a disapproving frown on her face.

"As much as I can be calm considering the circumstances," he scoffed. He stood, lifting me up in the process and once again I couldn't help but notice how much stronger he'd gotten over the years. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the playful gleam in Crispin's eyes and I pulled a face to hide my embarrassment.

I pushed away from Ali so that we were at a normal distance and crossed my arms. "Okay, everyone here has to swear that they won't hound after Eric Cooper."

"What do you mean?" Maria frowned.

"No unfair punishments. Nothing. You guys need to stay impartial."

"You're expecting us to be impartial to that jackass? You've got to be kidding me." Ali complained, running a hand through his hair.

"You can't randomly go up to him and kick his ass, Ali. That would look weird considering how I doubt you two have ever crossed paths before."

"The girl's got a point, Castile." Crispin pointed out.

"Jensen, you're still taking senior classes, right?" Ali turned to him. "Why don't you kick his ass for all of us?"

"No one is kicking his ass but me."

"You can't just expect us to sit back and do nothing, Kai."

"I can and I will. Otherwise you can learn the hard way like Joey and Crispin did as to how tough I can be." I stated, staring firmly at him.

"That's hardly fair," he groaned, rubbing the back of his head in frustration.

"It's fair if you want to help me protect my status."

We stared at each other for a while, neither of us willing to give up. Eventually, he gave a heavy sigh and grumbled. "I can't win against you on this, can I?"

"Not at all."

"I can't promise anything if by some chance I do bump into the guy, Kai. But I promise not to go looking for him."

"Thanks, Ali." I told him sincerely, wrapping my arms around him.

"You're one tough cookie, Kalster," he grumbled. "You were always so hard-headed when it was something you had a strong opinion about."

"I wouldn't say that I was hard-headed." I complained. "That's a little far-fetched, isn't it?"

"No, you really are rather hard-headed." Joe chuckled. "Once you set your heart on something you're impossible to budge."

"Kai, head over to Martin's office." Aunty Jules cut in before I could start a fight.

"Already?"

"He wants to keep things legitimate so you'll have to go in to give your side of the story," she explained bluntly. "Try to keep your temper when you see him, Kai."

"I'll do my best." I sighed, pulling away from Ali. "See you guys later."

"Stay safe," they echoed.

I was barely halfway towards Martin's office when an arm lashed out and someone pressed me against the wall. This time, I was startled to meet a pair of stunningly blue eyes. "Ozera, you've got to stop appearing out of nowhere." I mused.

"What did Eric do to you?" he demanded, his voice low with barely tamed fury.

"How do you know he did something?"

"He walked into the headmaster's office with a thunderous Guardian Hunt behind him. He must've done something to you."

"And why would you think that?"

"I know Eric and I know he's been after you all this time. There'd be no reason for him to try something stupid on another girl. What did he do to you?"

"It's none of your business." I retorted stubbornly.

"He tried to bite you, didn't he?" he glowered. "He did bite you." His hand reached up to hold my face, his thumb brushing against my injured lip.

"Is that what happened to the person you mentioned before? Is that what he did to her?"

His eyes darkened and he took a step back as he gave a heavy sigh. "He did a lot worse than just bite her lip."

"From your tone of voice, I can imagine." I scoffed.

"He just bit your lip?"

"I thought I asked you to drop it."

"Actually, you didn't ask. You just told me that it wasn't my business."

"Well then: Please drop it oh-great-prince-Ozera." I chimed sardonically.

"You really don't care much about my title, do you?"

"I'll acknowledge it since you don't go around flaunting it. But I don't really get the whole royal system. Just because you were born into a royal family doesn't necessarily make the person great if they haven't done anything yet."

"You're one of the few people in the world with that kind of view, Valentine."

"It's probably not that good of a thing in this society but I'll adapt." I sighed. "Listen, Ozera, I need to head over to the headmaster's office so I'll see you at dinner."

"Try not to be held back in the office for too long, Valentine." The shadow faded from his eyes and he gave another one of his heart stopping smiles.

"How the heck did he manage to keep up his popularity with the girls with you around?" I murmured under my breath as I walked away.

"Was that a compliment, Valentine?"

"Don't take notice of my random mutterings." I grumbled and stomped off to Martin's office.

Once there, I knocked on the door and waited for the beckon. His voice was tight when he called out and I opened the door hesitantly, wary of the expression on Martin's face.

"Valentine, take a seat." Martin gestured at the farthest one away from Eric. I spotted Rosette sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea in her hands. She sent me a small smile when she saw me. Once I was sat, Martin began talking again. "Valentine, are you aware of the rules in our community?"

"Uh… which ones?"

"The one regarding biting."

"It's against the rules for a Moroi to bite someone without their prior permission is probably the plainest way of saying it."

"There you have it, Cooper. Valentine certainly knows about the rule." Martin turned to face him with a deathly glare.

"Headmaster Hunt, pardon me, but I haven't bitten her. As I'd said, the cut from her lip was due to carelessness on my behalf. I lost control since she has that kind of effect on men."

Since Eric was staring at me, he didn't see the fury swirling in Martin's eyes. It was so intense that I flinched. I remembered that all my family members could be pretty scary when they were properly angry but this was more lethal than I'd anticipated. Either I underestimated my memory or Martin had gotten a little scarier over the years.

Martin closed his eyes briefly before staring at me. "Was it a mere loss of control?" he asked me.

"She didn't struggle hard enough to push me away so it must've been unexpected therefore it would only have been a loss of control on my part."

"I asked Valentine. You are to be quiet until you are addressed, Cooper." Martin glowered at him before returning his attention to me. "Well, Valentine?"

"It was undoubtedly a loss of control." I replied honestly. "It seems that Eric isn't nearly as perfect as he or anyone says he is. Eric still has a lot to learn if he got caught by none other than the headmaster. But I hadn't given my consent so he _has_ broken a very crucial rule."

I turned to Eric to see anger simmering in his eyes and his tightened jaw. It seemed that I finally struck a nerve. Internally, I gave a smug smirk. It was damn time Eric Cooper got knocked off of his high horse.

"Even Valentine is aware of the severity of your actions in our community. You are to be suspended with a ban on all electronic devices and a ban of physical and magical training. A guardian will be monitoring and reporting you behaviour. You are suspended indefinitely." Martin stated sternly.

"Excuse me?" Eric gaped. Clearly Eric still wasn't expecting any form of punishment.

"You are suspended indefinitely." Martin repeated flatly. "You are dismissed. I'd suggest you return to your room to pack and a guardian will be waiting outside you room."

Eric's entire body stiffened and the gleam in his eyes was more than dangerous. He was plainly trying to express that this was far from over. This was going to be the first scar on his supposedly perfect record after all so it was normal for him to be so angry but it was his own fault. This was all because of his arrogance and lack of knowledge of how to back off. He pushed up from the chair and stormed out of the room, a thunderous vibe trailing behind him.

When the office door slammed shut, I breathed out a heavy sigh and sagged in my seat. "Well… that went down as well as it could've done." I commented with a small laugh in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

"You'd think that only because you missed the majority of his argument." Martin scoffed, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"I know you're not stupid but you wouldn't have, out of spite, assigned someone who knows me well as his supervisor, would you?"

"I may wish to reduce him to nothing as your friend and guardian, Kai, but I wouldn't put my friends through the hell of supervising him. As a headmaster, I wouldn't unfairly put him through the hell of being crushed to a pulp."

"Pfft, I would say the ban of socialising is quite a hell for him already, Martin."

"That's the least I could do. Had it been widely known who you really are, he'd be tried at court for what he did. For his attentions to do worse, he'd be imprisoned."

"How did you know I'd be in Aunty Jules' office?"

"I figured you'd be dragged there by then." Rosette replied with a small smile. "How was it? I hope they didn't react too violently."

"It's safe to say that it's definitely a good idea to send Eric away." I sighed. "If any of the others were to see him in the near future, who knows what they'll do? Ali is definitely a ticking bomb at the moment."

"I think Alistair is still rather hot-headed. He's gotten better at controlling his emotions on the whole, but he's still far from tamed his temper." Rosette mused. "You are the same, Kalani, as are Juliet and Maria."

"Well, I for one am glad that I'm not the only one who still hasn't gotten a good control over my temper."

"I want you to be honest with me, Kai. Was what happened with Cooper really nothing more than a slip of control?" Martin asked me sternly.

"Yes and no." I replied honestly. "It was a slip of control since he'd held back before, but the desire has always been there."

"Why did you decide to go out with him if you knew right from the start?" he demanded incredulously.

"I never went out with him." I shot back curtly. "It was an agreement to 'see him'. To give him a chance to prove that he could be the best boyfriend candidate. It was the only way I could get him off my back."

"Did you like him?"

"I didn't _dislike_ him and he appeared charming enough. I thought he'd either stay charming and accept that I wasn't going to be a meal or give up. I regretted my choice when I realised I was wrong not long after."

"I'm not going to be a narrow minded father-figure and ban you from relationships, little sky, but in the future please choose your partners more carefully. It'd reduce the number of homicidal thoughts." Martin advised.

"I'll be more careful from now on, I promise to save you guys the heart-attacks."

"That would be appreciated, Kalani."

"I won't keep you any longer. You'll probably want to head to dinner."

"Thanks, Martin." I beamed. "See you two later."

I stood, moved to give them each a hug before leaving the office and made my way to the dining hall. I found the others gathered not far from the doors of the hall and Ingrid sped towards me when she spotted my approach.

"Kai! Have you heard? Eric's been suspended," she gushed.

"How did you know about it so quickly?" I blurted.

"Tom called me to ask to see if you'd told me anything. He wondered if you'd know about it since you and Eric were seeing each other."

"How did Tom know about it?"

"Tom is Eric's roommate."

"Eric broke a rule so now he's been suspended indefinitely." I explained vaguely.

"He ONLY got suspension?" Drew demanded furiously. "He should've gotten a lot more than that!"

"You know what Eric did?" Dan turned to him in surprise.

Drew stared at me so obviously that others noticed and centred their attention on me. They fury swirling in Drew's eyes was like fire had actually lit up in them. It was so intense that it reminded me of the anger that I'd seen in Ali and Martin's eyes. For some reason, it was as if Drew cared about me as much as my family did which was downright bizarre considering he's theoretically only known me for almost two weeks.

"Let's just say that Eric crossed a line he shouldn't have and just leave it at that." I explained to them.

"Crossed a line he shouldn't have? I wouldn't have expected Eric to be a rule breaker let alone breaking one that would lead to indefinite suspension." Roxy commented.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, right?" Drew mused, glancing at me with another on of his cryptic stares again.

"Anyway, how many people know about Eric?" I asked, ignoring Drew's stare.

"Tom was told to keep it quiet for now so I don't think that many people know about it yet."

"That's good. I don't think he needs this kind of thing spread about him considering how it's the first mark on his supposedly perfect record. Anyway, let's go in, I need dinner after all the commotion of today."

"I have an idea, we should as Guardian Valiere if we could borrow the home economics room and we should have our own dinner do." Dan suggested. "I want to try your cooking."

"Her cooking's amazing." Els squealed.

"It's not that amazing." I grumbled. "It's just simple stuff."

"Simple but delicious and there's even a homely feel to it." Els totally ignored my comment and carried on. "I still remember the stew from the first lesson. That was so good."

"I don't really mind making it again but you guys are paying for the ingredients." I told them bluntly.

"Done deal." Jacks and Quinn chimed.

"It's hardly fair that Els has tried your cooking and we haven't." Ingrid complained as we headed into the dining hall.

"How did it turn into whether it's fair or not?" I grumbled. "Anyway, who cares about that, I just want food."

I was surprised when my phone suddenly buzzed. Tugging it out of my pocket, I glanced at the screen to see who it was. Pursing my lips, I hastily scanned the text to see what was up.

~I saw Eric being escorted out of school. What happened?~ he wrote.

I gave a heavy sigh and rubbed my temple. Information had a really rapid way of spreading on way or another in this school. It was kind of ridiculous to be honest but what could I do about it? Absolutely nothing. I quickly got the most appealing food that there was and sat with the others at the table.

"Sorry, I'm just going to quickly reply to a text." I apologised to the others.

I took my phone out again and typed a quick reply. ~Eric finally went too far and got caught my Headmaster Hunt.~

~So he's been punished, huh?~

~As you saw, yeah.~

~Can I ask just what he did that was so out of line?~

~I won't talk about it by text but we could meet up and chat at some point?~

~Will you be free after dinner?~

~I haven't made any plans. I'll let the others know I won't be able to do anything.~

~How about we meet at the training room? There won't be anyone there.~

~Sounds good, see you there in about an hour.~

~Have a nice meal, Kylie.~

I tucked my phone back in my pocket and glanced around briefly. He couldn't have known that I was in dinner unless he was here as well. I glanced around until I spotted him and gave a small smile. I faced him long enough to see him return the gesture.

"So what kind of food can you make?" Jacks asked curiously.

"I can make anything that has a recipe to it." I told him honestly. "As for improvised dishes just the bog standard stuff."

"How about Chinese?" Dan requested.

"I can fry noodles and stir-fry stuff but don't ask for anything intricate."

"Then we can handle the more intricate stuff." Jacks added, gesturing at himself and Quinn.

"You guys cook Chinese food?"

"It's the only thing we specialise in," the pair of them chimed.

"The only one out of us four who doesn't know how to cook is Drew." Dan glanced at him with a grin.

"So you know how to dance and I know how to cook, it seems like we've evened back out." I teased him.

"Looks like the endless battle has begun, Valentine." Drew retorted with a smirk. "Bring it on."

"So the pride has kicked in?"

"Hey you two, you both have a competitive streak so this could go on forever." Quinn cut in.

"Unfortunately, you can't even fight it out because it'd end with too many draws." Jacks sighed.

"Hey, I seem to recall that I kicked his butt. That doesn't count as ending in a draw." I protested.

"I think it'd be pretty scary to see you two fighting properly without holding back." Ingrid murmured with a shudder.

"I think it'd be pretty painful for the both of us to fight head on." Drew mused, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

"Somehow, I don't think I ever want to test that out." I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "I'd rather not voluntarily get beaten black and blue."

"Out of curiosity, have you ever been beaten black and blue?" Roxy asked.

"Of course I have!" I squealed, recalling the times when I used to get thoroughly thrashed by Aunty Jules and Mum whenever we trained. "Everyone has to start somewhere, you know."

"It's still kind of hard to imagine." Ingrid commented.

"You're not just good at fighting. You've got all sorts crazy skills too. You're like one of those martial arts chicks." Dan pointed out. "Remember that time when you saved my ass in that game in training?"

"I'm not a 'martial arts chick' as you call it." I complained. "I just trained in martial arts for a while… Wait till you see a proper shaolin master. Now _that's_ impressive. They would definitely kick Strigoi ass."

Jacks arched his brows in amusement. "So you're saying that we should all train with shaolin masters?"

"It would certainly discipline us better." I mused. "But I doubt most of us would last three days training under the same strict schedule as they do. I know I couldn't."

"Strict schedule?" Els asked.

"There's no time for fun at all." I explained. "Wake up early, eat well, train hard, clean the grounds, eat only a small amount and then sleep before repeating the same thing. I went to a camp for a week and couldn't make it through the whole week. Not being able to just relax or play pranks on people was really hard."

"Play pranks?" Quinn gaped. "I thought you were an honour student."

"I thought we'd been over this. An honour student wouldn't break out of school for a soccer game, would they?" I grumbled. "So when do we want to do this dinner thing? I'll ask Guardian Valiere about it."

"Then how about the day we get back from our one week trip? We can't go home until the day after and the food on the very last day is always really plain." Roxy suggested. "We could have the food party then as a last blowout before we scatter for the holidays."

"Speaking of the holidays, what are you going to do?" Drew asked.

"Probably head home." I told them honestly. With everyone off campus, I wouldn't have to hide as much when I went to my family home. It'd be a lot easier with less people around, that's for sure.


	54. Chapter 53

**_Author's note:_**

_**I have some very exciting news! The very first original work that I had finished two years ago is now available in print! The book title is 'The Rose Trilogy Part 1: Pandora's Box' and it's the same genre as the VA series and the like. If you have liked my VA fanfics so far, then I think that you'd be in for a treat with this original work. If you have time, please have a look at the full summary of the story by typing 'Jocelyn McCallum' into Amazon or any other online book seller and it should hopefully come up with 'Pandora's Box'... I hope that you guys will like the story enough to want to buy the book!**_

_**Cheers everyone for liking TMOS so far and I'm so sorry about the really long periods of time in between updates! Anyway, here is the next chapter with a small chat with Christian to start off and a rather intimate scene at the end of the chapter! I hope you guys like it!**_

_**Lyn xx**_

* * *

~x~ Chapter 53 ~x~

After dinner, I excused myself from the others and headed over to the training room to meet Christian. When I walked in, he was simply resting on his back on a pile of mats.

"So what happened to Eric Cooper?"

"Well, as you saw, he's been suspended."

"He finally got caught red-handed, huh? I never really thought of him as some that bad until our conversation before."

"I guess he's just the perfect example of the saying 'You can't judge a book by its cover'." I scoffed. "But with everyone who's been telling me this past week that they didn't think Eric was my cup of tea, I wonder why I haven't been paying much attention to their warnings."

"Since you've brought it up, I have to admit that I've been pretty curious about that," he commented cautiously. "You seem like you like to rebel once in a while but definitely not someone who would totally ignore a good piece of advice."

"You know, that's one of the things that I don't understand at all as to what's been happening this past week." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "But you know what, now that he's out of the picture for who knows how long, I think I'll just take things a little as they come."

"This isn't just some light topic though, Kylie. Shouldn't you try to work out what it is that makes the situation feel out of place so that it doesn't happen again?"

"If Eric hadn't been suspended indefinitely, I would do just that. But he won't be around and I'd rather not turn my brain to mush with over thinking while he's not here. So long as he's not here, I don't really need to think about taking precautions from him."

"Hm, you do have a point," he murmured in agreement. "You probably have enough to worry about already without thinking too much about Eric, especially now that he's not here to inflict harm anymore."

"Precisely." I cheered, throwing my hands up into the air. "I've been meaning to ask, but how's O'Connor been holding up so far?"

"He was a little on edge at first about not being able to stay in touch with the social happenings around here but I think he's starting to ease up now. Because of the ban on social activities, I think he's finally begun to realise that staying up every night with other socialites isn't actually that important."

"He used to do that all the time?"

"Yeah."

"That must've been so tiring." I whistled. "Hats-off to him for having managed to stay atop of it all. it can't be easy trying to keep up an appearance, especially such a dickish one."

"That's probably why he likes me. He knows that he doesn't have to keep up that kind of appearance around me. He doesn't have to put up a show to attract attention or try to please me. He knows that I won't judge him."

"I hope you do advise him when he steps way out of line though."

"Sometimes but he doesn't step out of line very often so there hasn't really been a need for it. Besides, since you've arrived, you'd certainly told him off more than enough times."

"Someone had to. It's not healthy to live the way he did. He'll end up making some seriously scary enemies and he'd be wiped out before he could even see it coming."

"I'll protect him before something like that happens. I won't let anything harmful happen to my friend."

I stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you really are his guard, aren't you? He might be a little big-headed to notice it at the moment but without you around he'd probably have been attacked several times over for his behaviour. You're observant enough to notice when someone intends to hurt him and as his friend you'd definitely warn him about it."

"I can't say that it hasn't happened a couple of times," he sighed. "He can be observant at times but, at other times, he's really oblivious to harmful intentions."

"I had a feeling he might be one of those types. The ambitious but unable to sense danger lurking type."

"That just about sums him up. I'm impressed, Kylie."

"I've met all sorts of people out there, Christian. It's not hard to recognise his type of personality. There were plenty of those in my school and a lot of them got heavily knocked down by their competitors just because they didn't see it coming."

"You know, if we ever manage to get the school's approval, I would love to see what kind of world you'd been living in up until now, Kylie," he muttered hesitantly with awe and wonder underlying his words.

"Hm… you never know. Maybe when things calm down around here and I stop being such a novelty, we can ask our lovely headmaster and see what he says." I suggested with a small smile. "After all, I am allowed to visit my friends out there every now and then during the holidays and the like."

"You're allowed out?"

"With supervision, of course," I added. "I'm not a prisoner here because they've come to terms that I had a life out there. I'm a little different to other Dhampir or Moroi orphans, after all."

"Considering how you haven't grown up at an academy of some sort, that's pretty obvious," he scoffed. "There is one thing I don't really understand though. If you have been making kills outside of the Academy, how have you not been caught before?"

I pursed my lips at his question and actually had to think about it for a moment. I didn't want to flat out lie to him and it took me a moment to realise that I could tell him the whole truth.

"I guess that legal Guardians don't really keep too much track about the rogue hunters out there. You know, the academy drop-outs who decide to hunt just because they think that it's cooler that way. Although I don't have the same outlook as they do, I suppose that in a way, I'm just like them. I'm not a drop-out, but it is a fact that I have been hunting by myself outside the jurisdiction of the academies."

"But haven't you run across _any_ Guardians before this?"

"Not really." I told him honestly. "I've bumped into my fair share of Moroi out there because of there being various specialised bars near the area where I worked. Because of that, there were more than a few Strigoi lurking around."

"And they never thought to tell you to go to an Academy?"

"Oh they did." I laughed. "I just didn't pay them any attention."

"Why the hell not? Didn't you realise how dangerous of a situation you were in?"

"Christian," I tried to reason. "I'd been living like that for a good couple of years. I wasn't going to ditch my friends and life out there just because I found out that there were specialised Academies spread around the world to train people like you and me to fight. I could already fight properly and had brought down more than I can count. The Moroi told me about the academies but I never saw any need to go to one."

"It's kind of scary that you can kick pretty much all our asses despite not having gone through the same training as us…"

"I think it's because I haven't gone through the exact same training as you that I can kick your asses." I grumbled. "Think about it. If I had gone through the same training, then I wouldn't have as many tricks up my sleeve, would I? You'd all know what I could do as I progressed and in theory you should be able to think up counter-techniques."

"So you're suggesting that we should all undergo different training?"

"That's wouldn't be such a bad idea. Of course, we'd all have to start somewhere and it'd definitely have to be the basics. But once we each get the hang of things, we should be allowed to develop our own techniques. That way, it keeps each other guessing and we're constantly forced to improve and really extend our skills."

"Have you mentioned that to Guardian Belikov?"

"Uh… no?"

"I think you should, Kylie. We've had pretty much the same training programme for decades and maybe even centuries. It wouldn't hurt to change things a little and change our fighting style just a little. If not change it then at least have the option of a different fighting style. I mean, not everyone going to be able to adapt to the type of martial arts you do but we could certain adapt some of it."

"That's because the martial arts I use is a pretty rare form and combination. I got lucky and was able to train with two different masters and learned the different techniques before trying to combine them."

"Does that actually work?"

"Mostly." I told him, stretching my arms a little just to get the blood running in my body again after having been still for so long. "It's the same as how fighting styles have developed over the centuries. Everything starts from something and then slowly they get shaken up a little to adapt to personal fighting styles."

"So no one else knows your fighting style?"

"There'll be lots of people who know of it, like martial arts masters for example. They'd probably still totally kick my ass if I had to fight cleanly against one. But I have yet to encounter a Strigoi who knows proper traditional martial arts hence I've been able to stay alive and relatively unscathed. I'd be in trouble if I met lots of opponents who were at my level of traditional martial arts."

"Not to mention your bizarre pressure points technique. That really is unfair."

"It's still a clean fight. It's a trick but it's not dirty." I retorted a little defensively. "Besides, I don't use it often during class. In fact, I haven't used it since that first fight against the quartet. I know that it wouldn't be very fair since you guys don't really seem to have a grasp on pressure points and all that."

"Where is that fighting style from?"

"I think really old traditional Chinese myth and martial arts."

"You really did get lucky with meeting your martial arts masters," he marvelled. "I know of Chinese martial arts but I'd never heard of one that used pressure points as an act of defence or offence."

"I think if you looked hard enough, you could probably find it in books. As to the teachings of that fighting style, I reckon it's gotten pretty lost over the eras and different dynasties."

"You make it sound really old…"

"That's because it is really old." I scoffed.

"How do you feel about the assault course tomorrow?"

"I've seen it when I went round on that signature hunt exercise last week. It's not too bad. The way I remember it, it's a little similar to the courses I used to do whenever I went on those voluntary military camp weekends."

"You went on military camp weekends?"

"I needed some kind of a challenge to my training and almost nothing is more intense and challenging than the military."

"That's still pretty extreme, Kylie."

"It's nothing compared to the proper training they give here since they set the levels according to dhampir standards rather than human."

"No wonder you have a rather strange fashion sense. You really do love wearing those combat trousers, don't you?"

"They're really comfortable and practical." I defended. "All those pockets and it's even waterproof!"

"Thanks for agreeing to talk to me, Kylie, but I should head back. I've still got work to finish."

"Now that you mention it, I should head on over to the Elementary Division as well."

"You really are dedicated to those kids."

"They're really adorable and they just make me smile whenever I see them."

"The little Dragomir looks really attached to you from what we saw in the dining hall."

"Trace is so sweet and lovely. I could spend all my time with him and never get bored. If I didn't become an assigned Guardian, I would happily join the Elementary Division to help out with the little kids." I declared. "See you around, Christian."

"Try not to get roped into another strange relationship now that you're available again. No doubt word would spread soon enough about Eric's suspension and everyone will be finding out soon enough about you not being with him anymore."

"I have a feeling that in this Academy, no one else is nearly as overly forward and quick to snatch as Eric Cooper. I should be safe for a couple of days at least." I sighed. "Hopefully…"

"What do the others know about it?"

"They know that he's stepped out of line and that my agreement with Eric has definitely broken off. Ozera's the only one who has any idea as to what could've really happened."

"That's not surprising. I reckon he's known about Eric's true nature for a long time. He hasn't particularly like Eric for a while now."

"Apparently something happened and Ozera knows about it. What had happened I have no idea but it's not my business to pry into."

"Well, whatever it was, it's passed now and you don't have to worry about Eric trying to prey on you anymore. At least, not until he gets back from his suspension. See you later, Kylie."

With that, Christian and I went different directions. He headed back towards the dorm while I headed for the Elementary Division. When I got there, Jacks and Quinn were already there fawning over Trace. Since Jacks and Quinn basically hogged Trace all to themselves, I got to spend more time with the other kids as well. I was however somewhat surprised to see that Ali was nowhere in sight.

Once it was past bed time and I had helped put all the kids to bed, Jacks and Quinn headed back first. As I was making my way back to the dorms, I was surprised when a firm grip suddenly circled around my wrist.

"Ali?" I stammered in surprise at his silence.

He walked with a brisk pace, taking ridiculously long strides making it a little difficult for me to keep up with him. He didn't stop until we reached Aunty Jules' office in the Elementary Division. Ali shut the door behind us and locked the door. He also proceeded to draw all the blinds so that no one could look into the room. I had to say that for the first time since I could remember, I was a little intimidated by the intense emotion swirling in his eyes.

It was dangerous, but the danger wasn't directed towards me. I hazarded a guess that Eric Cooper was the cause for the dangerous aura surrounding Ali at the moment.

"Um… Ali?"

"Just give me a moment, Kai," he told me through gritted teeth.

I kept my mouth shut and simply took a seat on the sofa while he paced a little. Considering how angry he was, it was understandable that he wasn't with the kids this evening. Had he been like that since he found out about what happened? That was at least two hours ago… He'd been fuming for two whole hours?

"Kai, did you know what was happening with Eric Cooper?" he asked me eventually as he finally stopped pacing and turned to face me with a stern glare.

"Uh…"

"Kai, what were you thinking? Did you know what he was really like? Is it true that you knew what he was after?"

"Kind of…"

"Why did you stay with him?" he growled, his voice low, deadly and startlingly threatening.

"Ali, I thought that it was normal amongst Moroi boys. Hell, it _is_ normal amongst Moroi boys. If my memory is right, Rose Hathaway was in the same situation once."

"But you are not Rose Hathaway. You are not the reckless partier that she was before she reformed. You are also not just a mere dhampir. You are also a royal. Seriously, Kai, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that he would get bored of me soon enough and certainly before things got so out of hand." I retorted defensively. "Ali, I understand that I worried you, but I don't get why you're reacting like this."

I winced when he suddenly took my hands in his in a vice grip. He sat down beside me on the sofa and turned me so that we faced each other. "Kalster… the very thought of some _brat_ abusing you makes me want to break all the rules. It makes me want to hunt him down and beat him till there's no breath left in him."

"Ali, that would be murder of a Moroi and, royal or not, that is a very serious crime." I muttered. "I wouldn't be able to bear it if you got sent away for beating the crap out of someone who almost abused me."

"Kai, he did abuse you. He bit you lip hard enough to draw blood and don't even get me started on the scratches on your back. It's unforgivable. If I see him, I _will_ kill him."

"It's a good thing that he's now away from the Academy then, huh?" I joked, trying to lighten up the situation.

Frustration flickered across his expression and he tugged my hands so that I fell into him. His arms wrapped around me and his hand pressed my head against his chest. I was shocked by the fierce pounding of his heart and I closed my eyes in guilt. Hesitantly, I wrapped my arms around his waist and my hands fisted on his back, clutching at his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Ali. I really am."

"You've got to stop doing this to me, Kai," he whispered with a broken voice. "I have never met someone who makes me react and feel the way you do. You make me feel far too impulsive sometimes."

"I don't mean to worry you guys. I guess that things just have a tendency to go much further out of hand than I anticipate."

"I don't want to see you get hurt anymore."

"I don't want to hurt anymore either." I grumbled.

For a while, neither of us said anything. We simply stayed in silence, basking in each other's company. Being in this situation now, it really made me remember how much I loved being in Ali's arms. The sense of comfort and protection always put me at ease straight away. No matter how I felt, if I was in Ali's arms, I would calm down right away.

At least, that was how it used to be.

But now something felt a little different. Now that I really acknowledged the fact that it wasn't just me who'd grown over the years but Ali as well, I couldn't help noticing all the differences between us. This felt a little different to the crush that I used to have on him. This was a whole lot stronger and for the first time, I felt the flutter of butterflies in my stomach as I leaned against him.

Just being here made my heart pound in my chest. How I hadn't noticed this change in my emotions towards Ali before I had no idea. Maybe it was because I was so caught up with everything else that I just didn't have the chance to realise. This was what I knew it should feel like. The slight fluttering of the butterflies, the empty-headedness, the inability to think straight, the lightness of the body, and not to mention the heart pounding against the chest like it was trying to break out through the ribs.

Real attraction wasn't something that needed thinking about. It was something that would just creep up on you until it was too late for you to go back. Being with Ali made me feel all of that. Just thinking about him made me want to stay by his side.

Gee… imagine that. The crush that I used to have on him was returning ten-fold. If the others heard about this, I'd never hear the end of it, especially not from Joe!


	55. Chapter 54

**_~x~ Chapter 54 ~x~_**

I wasn't really sure how long we stayed like that, just hugging each other. "I need to get back to the dorms soon. I'm going to miss the curfew."

"Just send Joe a message saying that you're going to get back late."

"I can't just abuse my connections like that, Ali."

"Sure you could. I did."

"You tried." I corrected with a laugh. "And got your ass kicked by Aunty Jules every time for it."

"It's so unfair that I was the one getting beaten up when you were always there with me."

"I had my fair share of lectures!" I protested.

"Lectures are better than getting your ass kicked."

"I beg to differ." I scoffed. "Seriously, though, I need to get back. I promised Martin that I'd be good."

"That's a shame. I thought we'd get to sneak around the Guardians on patrol like we used to."

"How about during the holidays? That way there aren't many students around and Martin would have less to worry about." I suggested.

"You're staying here during the holidays?" Ali sounded surprised by the idea and I pulled away to look at him.

"Why wouldn't I? This is my home after all. Did you think that I was going to get the hell out of here once I had the chance?"

"I saw how happy you were out there with your friends, Kai. It wouldn't be strange for you to want to spend the whole holiday with them considering how you're basically confined here for the rest of the year."

"I'm happy with them but I'm happy here too. I'll go out a few times to visit them of course but that doesn't mean that I need to live out there. Besides, it's kind of inevitable that I'll get to see my friends out there anyway because of my job."

"Has it been confirmed with Martin then? Your schedule and stuff."

"For the next few months, yeah. My manager has crammed in as much as she could since we have no idea how much time I'll have once school starts again."

"I'm glad that you managed to make the most of your voice, Kai. You've always loved singing."

"I guess it was the one thing that I actually had confidence with." I admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head.

The main reason why I ever got into singing was because Ali had told me that he loved my voice when I sang. The first time was back when I was five. We'd just been having one of our relaxed evenings at the house while my parents were off having a meeting with the other Guardians. Since that first time Ali told me that he liked my voice, I'd enjoyed singing even more. It was the one thing I was absolutely confident with when I'd left the Academy.

My voice had somehow led me to various people who'd made my life outside of the Academy possible. For the first three years, I'd somehow managed with the money I brought with me. At the beginning I had slept at my middle school's infirmary since it was basically impossible for me to find a place for myself. I was only ten after all. Two weeks in, I got caught by the doctor who had come back to get something from his office. He'd heard me singing in the music room and told me to stay with him and his wife, Rosette.

I met my band thanks to my voice too. I'd been singing a cappella on the streets when I was 13 to earn money to pay for school and living expenses. Back then, the others were high school students searching for a lead vocalist. One thing led to another and I joined their band. Not long after that, our current manager discovered us and promoted us so well that we were almost an instant hit.

"If you want to get back in time for curfew then I guess I should let you go now." Ali sighed in disappointment.

"Why don't we watch a movie tomorrow? We could start on that collection of yours." I suggested. "I want to go to the house anyway to check something."

"Have you let Marin know about that?"

I shook my head and stretched. "No, I'll drop him a message when I get back to the dorms."

I was startled when Ali suddenly reached out towards my face. His thumb brushed my bottom lip gently and I noticed his eyes darken in a mixture of fury and another emotion I couldn't name.

"It's going to heal in no time." I reassured him.

"I don't care how much time passes. If I see him, I'm going to kick his ass." Ali declared vindictively.

"Then let's hope that you never see him. The poor guy won't see what hit him."

"He's not some poor guy, Kai. He's a bastard that needs to beaten to the point of death."

"Alright, Alster, I'll take your word for that."

"How can you not feel the same way?"

"I do, just not as viciously. I agree that I need to beat the crap out of him at least once. And if any of you beat me to it then I'll have to kick your asses too."

"I haven't seen you in action yet."

"Yes you have. In fact, I recall that you nearly punched my face in anger for the fact that I was in action." I corrected.

"I didn't get to see much since I was rather preoccupied with the Strigoi. And I'm not the only who was angry about that. Juliet was too."

"She threw a folder in my face that morning when we got sent there."

"Are you talking about what happened after the fight broke out in the cafeteria with O'Connor?"

"Yeah. I just turned around and bam there it was." I grumbled. "Anyway, you're stalling me. I need to go, seriously."

"Alright, just one last thing then. Put my number into your phone so we can decide when and where to meet tomorrow."

I pulled my phone out and handed it to him. He quickly typed in his details and sent a message to his phone so that he'd have my number. "See you tomorrow, Ali."

"Stay safe, Kai."

"You too, Ali. Let's hope none of the kids suddenly wake up so you can get a good sleep. You'll need it if we're going to start on your movie collection."

"I'm sure your amusing commentary on how stupid some of the characters are will keep me awake," he teased.

"Hey, I wasn't that bad."

"Let's not start on that. We'll be here all week if we do. I personally don't mind but you want to get back by curfew, right?"

"Right." I agreed. I tugged him down and gave him a kiss on the cheek before unlocking the door. After making sure there was no one around, I sprinted down the corridors and back to the dorms to avoid being late.

"You're safe." Joe told me as he shut the door behind me. "You sure do know how to cut it close, Kai."

"Ali caught hold of me just as I was coming back." I explained to him.

"Is he better now?"

"I think so… You never know with Ali. Sometimes he'll seem like he's fine but then he just might suddenly explode again. The most important thing is to make sure he doesn't see Eric Cooper."

"I don't think it's just Alistair. If Juliet sees him she just might kill him on the spot without reservation."

"I don't think she'd kill him on the spot, more like bash him until he was unrecognisable." I scoffed.

"That does sound like something she'd do," he chuckled in agreement.

"Are you going to see Martin after you've checked everyone's in their rooms?"

"Why?"

"If you do, can you tell him that I'm going to the house tomorrow? Ali will be there as well since we're going to start on that movie collection of his."

"Keep your phone on and be prepared to sneak out, Kai. We might want to drag you out tonight."

"Are you serious?" I blanched. "I don't think I can handle the collective lecture…"

"You better prepare yourself. Considering what's happened, I don't think you can avoid the lecturing."

"I can't?"

"You can't. Don't bother getting too comfortable in bed until you get a text from one of us."

"Alright, got it." I sighed. "Let me know soon though otherwise I might fall asleep."

"We'll let you know in about half an hour."

"Got it." I made sure no one was looking before leaning forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. "See you later maybe."

He chuckled and ruffled my hair before giving a nudge on my back. "Up you go, kiddo."

I headed upstairs to my room and collapsed onto my bed. The day had been far too hectic for my liking and as much as I loved my family unit, I preferred not to have to sneak out later so that I could sleep now.

I must have dozed off because I shook awake when I heard the buzzing of my phone. Grumbling, I read the message and grumbled again when I read the summon. It seemed that I wasn't getting to sleep yet.

I looked out my window to see Ali waiting against the wall with his arms crossed. "Psst!" I hissed to catch his attention. My heart melted when he glanced up with a cheeky smile that I knew and loved so much.

He gestured for me to jump down and I glanced at him sceptically. Glancing around to see which branch I could use, I gave a sigh and lifted myself up to slip through the window. Kicking off from the ledge, I launched down towards the branch I had my eye on to slow down my fall before dropped softly onto the balls of my feet.

"Nice jump," he praised, draping an arm around my shoulders. "I was planning to catch you though."

"That's not really my style." I retorted cheekily. "Shall we go before someone sees us?"

He stepped away to drape a jacket around my shoulders and we walked side by side towards the Ivashkov house. The door was barely open when a hand reached out and yanked me inside.

"You stupid child!" Maria chastised as he fist whirled towards me.

I squealed and hastily got into a defensive stance, blocking her fist with my palm. "Maria!" I protested. "Violence isn't the answer."

"Says the girl who has progressively beaten various people through violence." Joe teased.

"Hey, they attacked me first."

"That's no reason to jump head first into danger, Kai." Martin chastised.

"This time really worried us, Skylar. Don't do that again."

"I really am sorry. I'll do my best to make sure something like that will never happen again." I reassured them sincerely. "Oh, and since we're all here, Ali and I are going to watch a movie here tomorrow. That's going to be alright, right?"

"It should be fine. Joe, you are on guard around here, aren't you?"

Joe gave a nod. "Other guardians shouldn't be coming around the house tomorrow."

For the next hour, the others continued to chastise me mercilessly for my so-called reckless behaviour regarding Eric Cooper. Eventually, they finally let me get back to the dorms so that I could rest. Ali walked me back and we agreed to meet at 11 at the same tree as the other night. Before going to bed, I caught sight of the box that Aunty Jules had given me last week. Since things have been so hectic so far, I hadn't had the chance to see what was actually in the small safe yet.

Carefully, I typed in the code into the electronic keypad and tipped the box upside down so that its contents fell onto my bed. Various things sat on my bed: a cheque book, two letters, the Ivashkov family crest that I remembered seeing several times as a child and the family head's ring which I supposed belonged to me now…

Thinking back, I remembered that the crest was passed down from generation to generation at the coming of age ceremony. I wasn't too surprised to see the crest but I was somewhat startled to see the ring. Why would they have kept it in such a tiny and rather flimsy looking safe? Surely they would have kept it somewhere much safer? Or maybe my parents thought that since it was such a casual safe no one would bother to look for the ring in here. Either way, it was a good thing that it wasn't lost over the years or stolen.

Putting the cheque book, a strange looking key, crest, and ring back into the box, I decided to take a look at the two envelops. One had my father's handwriting while the other had my mother's. 'OPEN THIS FIRST' was written in bold marker and capitals to emphasise the importance of opening that letter first.

Before I could open the letter, a yawn broke through my lips and I decided against reading the letters now. I would wait until tomorrow when I had the whole day to do it and mentally and emotionally prepare myself for whatever information my parents had wanted to leave me.

That night, memories of my time here in the academy six years ago raided my dreams so that when I woke, all I could see in my mind were flickering images of my old life here. A combination of grief, loneliness, joy and fulfilment coursed through me. It was a really strange sensation and after a while, I decided not to dwell too much on it. Groggily, I got out of bed to go into the bathroom and got ready for my usual wake-up jog.

I got back to the dorms in good time to have a shower and get changed into lounge wear before heading off to meet Ali at the tree at 11. He was earlier than me this time and I found him leaning against the tree, gazing up at the sky. "Morn', Ali," I greeted chirpily. "I hope you brought food with you."

"The fridge in the house has been stocked."

"Is there coffee?"

"Yes," he chuckled, his eyes gleaming with amusement at my almost desperate tone in need for coffee. "You like coffee?"

"I can't live without it."

His eyes trailed down to my hands and his brows scrunched together. "Why are you holding a box?"

"Mum and Dad left it for me. There's a bunch of stuff in there that I thought I'd look over at the house before we get started on the movie."

The first thing I did when I got into the house was make a straight bee-line for the kitchen. I put the box down and set the kettle to boil. "Coffee?"

"Thanks, Kalster."

While we were waiting, we kept the conversation light and discussed what genre of movie we should start with. Once the coffee was made, I sat with him on the sofa in the lounge with coffee cup in hand. I bent down and placed the cup on the floor and reached for the box before sitting back up again.

"When did you get it?"

"Last week when Aunty Jules caught me. She was holding onto it until now and I haven't really had much of a chance to look inside until I saw it last night."

"You don't mind me being here? I could wait in the kitchen, Kai."

"It's cool. If I get confused, I can ask you faster or if I fall into a pit of memories and burst into tears you can snap me out of it. You know what I'm like if I get too caught up."

"You tend to lose sight of your surroundings and drown in whatever state of mind you get yourself into."

"Right, so it's better to have you with me." I concluded simply.

I unlocked the box again and took out the two letters. I put the box to the side and got started on the first letter. It began with warm and playful greetings from my parents and I could just picture them sitting with me right then as though they were never gone in the first place. I continued to read the letter which contained an essay with their concerns and advice about life. On the third page, there was a list of what should be in the box. I cross referenced it to see that everything matched and breathed out a relieved sigh when it did. I continued to read the end of the letter.

I tilted my head in confusion when the words jumped out at me. According to the letter, the key that was in the box corresponded to something that they had shown me a couple of times back when I was a kid not long before they passed away. Behind the lock, there was supposed to be the second part of the will and another top-secret letter for me to read.

I tried to remember just what the key was meant to fit into but after ten minutes, I came up with nothing and gave a frustrated sigh. Something they'd shown me before? What on earth could that have been? So far, memories which were relatively immediate before the attack on the school six years ago were somewhat foggy because my mind seemed to want to block it out. Eventually, I gave my mind a break and stopped trying to force the memory to reappear.

Carefully placing the letter back into the envelope and putting it into the box, I moved onto the next envelope and as mentioned in the letter at some point during the essay, this was the first part of the will. I spent a good amount of time looking over it to commit its contents to memory.

"Ali, this is really daunting…" I complained. "I now possess the ring belonging to the head of the Ivashkov family. There's no stronger proof of my being the head of the Ivashkovs than this…"

"Try not to overthink it, Kalster. At the moment, you don't need to be concerned with the politics of that just yet. Technically, the Ivashkov princess isn't here, right?"

"Geez… I can't believe something so important is in my possession though. I'm going to have to protect this to my dying breath."

"Kai, what you need to protect isn't the ring. It's your own life," he told me sternly. "The ring can be remade. You can't."

I felt like a small child under his stern gaze and gave a sheepish smile. "Right, that too."

"Have you had breakfast yet?" he asked, changing the topic.

"Not yet, no."

"Why don't you put everything back into the box and take a break while I make us some hot breakfast. You can set up the TV and put a film in so we could start on the films over breakfast."

"That's a fantastic idea."

We followed Ali's plan and by the third film, we were settled on the sofa together for lunch too. Half way through the third film, the scene triggered the memory that I was desperately searching for that morning and I squealed. Luckily I didn't have my plate on my lap since I shot up from the sofa and grabbed the box as I dashed upstairs to my old room. Hastily, I unlocked the box and snatched up the key before flattening myself to the floor so that I could wriggle under my bed.

"Ali, can you please get me a flashlight?" I hollered when I heard him come up the stairs.

A moment later, he was on the floor beside me and he handed me his phone with the flashlight switched on. Anxiously, I opened the small door in the wall under my bed and for a moment simply stared at what was in front of me. I stared and stared, refusing to believe my eyes until the image of a pile of ash was ingrained into my mind.

Panic and fury coursed through me.

In my haste to get out from under the bed, I banged my head but that didn't matter much. I vaguely heard the door being shut, presumably by Ali, and he yelled after me.

"Kai? Kai! Slow down!" he called out.

I ran, snatching up the box from the floor and sprinted out of the house. Disregarding the fact that I was bare footed since I hadn't stopped to put my shoes on, I headed straight for Martin's office.

"Are you 100% certain that no one but our family unit has been in the house?" I demanded fiercely as I stormed in frantically.

Martin shot me a disapproving glare which faltered when he saw my expression. He hastily ended his call and turned to me.

"Valentine? What's happened?" Joe asked, turning his head so that he could see me. I knew why he used my false name since the door to the office was still wide open and we couldn't know if someone was about to walk past. Ali rushed in and shut the door behind him.

"Joey?" I stared at him in surprise. "I thought you were patrolling?"

"Crispin's on that now. Why do you look so frantic?"

"Someone's been to the house."

"What?" Joe demanded sternly.

"Kai, explain." Martin commanded, gesturing at the seats.

"I've finally opened the box Aunty Jules passed over. Inside was a key – this one – and I opened the vault under my bed."

"You have a safe under your bed?" Joe cut in.

"I presume that only I should know about it since its existence hasn't been written anywhere so far as I know. The letter my this mini safe said behind that lock should be the remaining section of the will and a very important letter."

"What's the urgency?"

"There is nothing but a pile of ash in that vault." I told them quietly but fervently. "Someone has somehow incinerated both items. I opened the vault to find nothing but ash."

"Alistair, I need you to gather everyone, please. Tell them to drop whatever they're doing and come here immediately, this applies to Jenson as well. I'll send work for Brooks to patrol the area for now." Martin told him, one order after another. Ali wasted no time, dashing off to complete his tasks, while Martin got on the phone to give Guardian Brooks his task.

I waited until the doors were closed again and until Martin got off the phone before speaking again. "Do you know why they split the will to be guarded in different places?"

"Can I see how much of the will you have?" Martin requested.

I unlocked the small safe and handed him the will. "The crest and ring of the Ivashkov family have been passed down too."

"The Ivashkov ring?" Joe whistled. "I haven't seen that in a long time, little sky. It's finally found it's rightful owner."

"I'm not the rightful owner just yet. Not until I reveal my identity as the run-away Ivashkov princ-"

I broke off when I heard the smallest hint of a gasp coming from the door and panic shot through me once more. Swirling around, I threw a blast of wind at the doors, forcing them open. A bewildered but determined looking Drew Ozera stared at me and I stared back at him, my mind going blank.


	56. Chapter 55

_**To jakey2768: haha sorry that it had taken me so long for the last update the last chapter and probably this one too. Don't worry, this story is far from being over. I still have a LOT planned for these characters. Good luck with your test if you're still studying for it! Maybe this can be your reward for surviving through the test ;) You will now see Drew's reaction to finding out her secret in this chapter so I hope you like it!**_

_**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! This will be a major Drew and Kai scene :)**_

**_Lyn xx_**

* * *

_**~x~ Chapter 55 ~x~**_

Understanding grew and grew in his eyes as he marched in with long paces. While the emotion was there in his eyes, his expression was firm and unreadable. I backed away as he stalked towards me until my back hit Martin's desk and I was more than surprised when Drew suddenly pulled my top up and tugged the bandages away. I should've known that he would know about the mark.

"I knew it…" he murmured as he stared at the mark that was placed on my hip by the alchemists all those years ago.

In my shock I let out some sort of a strangled scream and pushed against his chest whilst tugging my top down at the same time. My mind was in a flurry of incomprehensible thoughts and I had no idea what to do. Millions of things ran through my mind. Thoughts like I had to run away again or knock Drew out cold or wipe out his memories somehow flashed through my mind. The thoughts were endless and Drew just made everything worse by getting down on one knee and taking my hand gently in his. I watched with heightening hysteria as he placed a soft kiss on my palm and gave me a wide prince-like smile.

He smiled and gazed up at me in some form of respect and adoration. "It's good to have you back, Princess Ivashkov."

I felt as though my head just about exploded and without another thought, I pushed him away as hard as I could and got the hell out of there. I kept running and ignored the rain that pounded on my skin as I ran.

When had it started to rain?

Was the sky this dark earlier?

Or was this some estranged mirror of my sense of turmoil?

Eventually, I slipped somewhere along the way and practically face planted into the muddy ground. I slowly sat up on my haunches as thoughts of my current life being over flashed across my mind.

I could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks mixed with the rain and I stared up at the statue of St Vlad. I tried to get up but my knees felt too shaken for me to be stable so I settled for crawling instead. I sat under the statue and leaned my back against it for support as I gathered my legs with my arms and cried, resting my forehead on my knees.

It felt as though my world had once again shattered around me.

I lost.

I lost everything.

I was all alone again.

I was going to be isolated again because of my status and that was the thing that I feared the most besides losing my friends and family. Things could never be the same again. I knew it from the gaze that Drew gave me earlier. They weren't going to see me as _me_ anymore. They were only going to be able to see me as the lost princess.

Seeing that look of respect and adoration in Drew's eyes hurt me more than I thought it would. It stunned me and made me feel lonelier than ever. It felt like he wasn't seeing _me _but the person who had escaped the academy, the person whom he saw as some kind of a heroine due to the act of escaping the academy.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, I felt soft hands touch my shoulders and when I glanced up, I saw Drew staring at me apologetically with raindrops tumbling on us both. Fear and panic rushed through me once more and I struggled against him as he tried to draw my body close to his.

He let me hit him, but he didn't let me push him away. Instead of letting his grip become weaker, he strengthened it until I lost the will to hit him anymore.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you like that," he whispered solemnly into my ear as he hugged me tightly. "For the moment, let's get you inside, you're frozen."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't even move. He must've noticed that, because a moment later, I was up in his arms and he carried me into one of the cabins on the edge of the forest. He set me down and dug out large blankets from one of the cabinets.

"For now, you should take off your clothes and wrap yourself up in that," he instructed and I nodded numbly in response. He turned away and so did I when I saw him take off his soaked jacket. I realised that he was going to strip as well so I turned away with a blush. I stripped off down to my underwear as quickly as I could with the clothes clinging to me due to them being soaked and my body wouldn't stop shuddering because of the cold.

Once I'd wrapped myself up in the blanket, I turned around and saw Drew at the fireplace. A small ball of flame appeared in his hand and soon the cabin was doused with a welcoming amber glow. I shuffled towards the fire and gave a small sigh of bliss as I felt the warmth of the fire slowly chase away the cold in my bones.

There was silence between us for a long while and for once, the silence between us was somewhat awkward and tense. It was so agonising that I tried to think of something to say but Drew surprised me by speaking out first.

"I'm really sorry," he blurted out as he turned his head to face me. "It was atrocious of me to have done that to you."

"This is why I tried so hard to hide it." I sighed tiredly and turned away from him to stare at the flames. "I knew that this would be the reaction."

"I know. I realised my mistake when you ran out like that. I'm sorry that I made you cry. You wanted to hide it because you were afraid that once we knew who you really were, we'd stop seeing you as Kai but as the princess of the Ivashkov family, right?"

I nodded.

"Kai, look at me," he commanded with a light tone.

I refused and remained staring at the fire.

"Kalani," he whispered softly and my head snapped around to face him in shock. He grabbed my shoulders and turned me physically so that we faced each other naturally. He grabbed my frozen hands gently in his and began to warmth them with a tiny flame as he rested his forehead on mine. "Who am I?"

The question threw me off guard and the answer flew out of my mouth before I could catch myself. "A jerk who seems to be right about everything and knows it and can beat me at everything except for combat in which I can beat his lousy ass."

"You missed out something," he pointed out with a smirk.

"Oh really? That you're an annoying know-it-all?"

"You've already mentioned that."

"Oh… You're a guy who's not afraid to try almost anything?"

"Not that."

"You're loyal?"

"Not that either."

"You're bad at waking up in the morning?"

"Keep guessing."

"You suck at cooking?"

"No."

"Then what?!" I asked in frustration.

"I'm Prince Andrew Blake Ozera, the heir to the Ozera family and the one who will have a place on the council after graduation."

"Yeah… so? I already knew that."

"And yet not once did you mention it in your description of me."

"That's because something like that doesn't matter."

"My point proven." Drew smiled widely at me and I knew that I'd fallen into his trap. I muttered a curse and glared at him. "It was a shock and a pleasant surprise, Kai. You know full well that I've always been anxious to know about what happened to the girl who ran away all those years ago. To think that the shy anti-social girl back then is the bold and daring you now is astonishing. To know that you're alive is one thing, but it still doesn't change who you are. You are both of those people. You get flustered when you get into situations that your mind can't keep up with. You're still as kind as you were back then and you're certainly just as persistent. No matter you family heritage, you are still _you_."

I considered how he could have possibly known about what I was like back then and the only conclusion that I came up with was the fact that Drew used to watch me enough to know what I was really like. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. Did that mean that I wasn't actually as discreet as I had thought? Did others actually know what I was really like back then too?

I thought about his words a little more and eventually smiled. My nerves calmed and my mind returned to its normal state. "Yeah, you're right about that."

"Have you finally calmed down?"

"I think so. So long as you promise not to turn into a creepy royal admirer or something I can deal. You can't tell the others though, Ozera. I will probably implode if any more people find out."

"Who else knows? I presume the whole bundle of people is the same as back then?"

"Who do you know is in that bundle?"

"Hunt, Belikov, Valiere, Maxwell, Salvatore, and Castile."

"That's my lovely little family unit. Add Jenson to the list of people who knows."

"Jenson found out? How?"

"Long story short, it's Maria's fault."

"Could you elaborate on that?"

I gave a sigh and tried to recall how exactly it had happened. "Well… Crispin and I were talking in Aunty Jules' office. Maria stormed in because Joey let slip that I was back. She started yelling all sorts of things and Crispin sort of pieced everything together."

"He's kept pretty quiet about it. I'm glad for you."

"Thanks. I hope you go back to being chilled, Ozera. I aim to maintain this secret for a good while yet."

"To gather trust worthy people, right?"

"Precisely." I confirmed with a grin. "Glad you understand."

"That's because I'm a royal. It's easy for me to get it."

"Well… there is that."

"I know you want to keep you secret so don't take this question the wrong way, but can you still manipulate the elements?"

"How do you think the doors opened back at Martin's office without anyone physically opening them? I'd sent a hurl of wind since I needed those doors opened as quickly as possible."

"Then, someday, if your secret gets out, we can see you in full action? You're lethal without magic, Valentine. You'll be untouchable with it."

"No one's untouchable, Ozera. I used to think my parents were an invincible team."

He looked hesitant for a moment and I simply waited for him to speak his mind. "Do you know what really happened back then?" he asked hesitantly, his voice low with severity.

I froze and just stared at him in shock at his words. "Excuse me?"

"What do you think happened? Do you believe that it really was just a freak attack?"

"Ozera, spit it out, what are you getting at?"

"I've overheard my parents discuss this topic in secret a couple of times. They suspect that what happened wasn't a simple freak attack. They can't be the only ones to think that."

"They think it was planned."

"You don't sound too surprised at the idea. What do _you_ think?"

I hesitated in responding. Martin did tell me that it was crucial I kept this under wraps. But he hadn't mentioned that I couldn't discuss this if someone else already had the same trail of thought.

"I think that there is no way in hell what happened was a mere freak attack. The onslaught was planned. Someone broke the wards and I doubt it was by accident."

"It was definitely an organised attack. The way the guardians were delayed like that was definitely unnatural even if we were taken by surprise."

"Who else knows about this speculation?"

"Quinn's the only one so far as I'm aware. Apparently Jackson's never mentioned anything and Dan hasn't either. That isn't to say for certain that they haven't considered such a thing."

"Things would go haywire if this got spread around. Rumours travel pretty much at the speed of light in this place. It's insane." I grumbled. "I mean, okay, under certain circumstances it could be a good thing but usually it definitely isn't."

"It can turn out to be a nightmare, can't it?"

"It sure can."

"How is your family going to react to my finding out?"

"They can't really do anything about it, especially with you being one of the royal prodigies of the school." I scoffed. "But that would stop them from cautioning you. How the hell did you hear us anyway?"

"I was being really nosy."

"No! I never would've guessed." I gasped in mock surprise which earned me a smack in the shoulder.

"Hey, you're probably just as bad as I am when it comes to heavy suspicions," he protested. "I was going to the office to speak to Headmaster Hunt. I could hear there were people inside so I kept quiet and waited to be polite. Then I heard you saying the Ivashkov name so curiosity got the better of me and I overheard a bit of your conversation. Enough to know for certain that I had been right and I wasn't going mad."

"Since when have you suspected?" I whispered hesitantly, not sure whether I wanted the answer or not.

"I'd first noticed the weirdness when Maxwell dragged you off in such an odd way during that fight with Marissa. But the suspicion really set in when you broke out and jumped over the gate." Drew explained. "You had the same look as six years ago, Valentine. That was when I really knew."

I stared at him for a while before giving a defeated sigh. "Thank you for not confronting me about it."

"I wanted to be sure of it first. At first, since we were out of the academy, I didn't really notice anything. But then there was the way Castile reacted to you jumping into the fight like that and then things just felt out of place once we'd gotten back to the academy. Thinking about it, rogue or not, there was no way that you were ignorant of our society. It was in the way you moved and talked."

"Just my luck that I attracted the attention of one of the most observant people in our year."

"You didn't make any sense and I was puzzling over it for the first week. It annoyed me that I couldn't work out why I felt that way."

"You hate puzzles that much?"

"I prefer things to make sense."

"That's fair enough. Most people prefer it when things make sense otherwise you're left with this anxious feeling that something's not right."

"If things went according to plan, you wouldn't have found out for a good while yet."

He looked at me with an unfathomably heavy gaze. "You hate me knowing that much?"

"No, that's not it." I protested. "It's just that… I guess I was more anxious about you finding out more than anyone else."

"Why's that?"

"Ozera, you basically idolised the Ivashkov princess when we spoke during that cops and robbers exercise in training. You spoke so highly of her that I didn't want you to be disappointed to find that she turned out to be a foul mouthed chick. Living up to someone's expectations isn't easy. You're always left hoping that you haven't disappointed them."

"You've exceeded my imagination of how you might have turned out by a mile at least, Valentine," he admitted honestly. "Even though you left with such a strong and determined gleam in your eyes back then, I never could've imagined that you'd turn out to be… well, you."

"Thanks… I think?"

"Who could've guessed that the girl who used to hide behind her fringe would turn out to be such an outspoken badass chick who isn't afraid to kick someone's ass even if it meant breaking the rules?"

"Being out there really boosted my self-confidence. I was naturally stronger than the others because of the dhampir blood. I could stand up against bullies. Not to mention, I was out of the watchful eye of other royal grown-ups who kept trying to push their expectations onto me. I didn't have to worry about being anyone but myself out there."

"How did you manage to cope being out there on your own so soon after your parents passed away?"

"At first, I didn't. I used to break down so easily but because I was with a lovely and understanding young couple, they helped me through it. Do you remember Rosie? The lady who met us outside the airport?"

"The one in the amazing car?"

"Right. She was my middle school doctor's wife. I was found at school by the doc one night and he offered to let me crash at his place."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. They had a spare room so it wasn't too much of a problem."

"It sounds like you've been very lucky, Valentine. I can't imagine things going that smoothly if something like that were to happen to me."

"It won't." I stated firmly. "You're a totally different case to me since you're Moroi and already have one heck of a reputation amongst the royal families. You'd never be allowed to escape."

"You weren't either and yet you did."

"I was a ten year old child who was horrible enough to use her parents' funeral as a distraction to run away."

"True, making a run for it on the day of the funeral is pretty deep. But if the alternative was being stuck here with royal families hounding after you to try and change and manipulate who you became, I would've chosen the same thing."

"This kind of thing is too heavy, Ozera. Besides, it would never happen to you. You're not ten years old. You know who you are and since you already have an established reputation amongst the royal families, they have no hopes of trying on you what they did to me. Also, your close family friends are also royals so they'll protect you. Your close family friends don't have the requirement to be impartial to a degree."

Drew gave me an oddly cold and disgusted glance. It wasn't something directed at me, but I could see the emotions swimming in his eyes. "I wouldn't say that other royal families don't try."

I thought about his words for a moment to try and work out what he was saying. There was no way that other royals would try to manipulate him the way they had done to me six years ago. They wouldn't dare to hound him the way they pressured me. So why did Drew have such a cold and disgusted gleam in his eyes?

It took me a long moment of thought before I worked it out.

"Some families are trying to force arranged marriages on you, aren't they? That way they would be indirectly influencing you through your fiancé." I breathed in shock.

The confirmation was there in his eyes and the way his jaw tightened in anger. "I have overheard the arguments enough times to know that a few of the families just don't know how to give up. My parents have refused time and again but they just won't let up. Just when I think that they've run out of tactics to force their daughter into our family, they come up with another crazy idea."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I whispered sincerely. "I can't imagine what it would be like for someone to try and force a marriage on me. To be honest, if it was me, I would probably lose my head and beat the crap out of them for trying such a thing."

"As you said, I do have a reputation and therefore I have to uphold it. Sometimes, reputations can be both a weapon and a heavy obstacle. In that situation, it's a nuisance."

"The expectations to uphold a reputation sucks." I grumbled. "Why are we such prideful people?"

"That may be one of the questions I will happily not know the answer to." Drew scoffed. "The complexities to finding that answer will be endless. I doubt I'll have the patience to find a good answer to that question."

"Hey, I just realised. Maybe I can help you fulfil one of your wishes."

"You know my wishes? Are you my fairy godmother?"

"Pfft, I wish. If I was a fairy godmother, I could probably wish away the bad things that happen in this world but I can't. I just remembered something from one of our conversations. When my secret gets out, I promise to train with you, magic and all."

Surprise gleamed in his eyes before he remembered what I was talking about. "You would do that?"

"Well, if my secret is out, I might as well start training to use my magic." I sighed. "Remember that moment with Marissa when I just collapsed?"

"We all found that a little weird…"

"That was because of the elements warring inside me." I explained. "I can't control the elements as well as I should be able to yet, especially since I left six years ago. I haven't had enough of proper training so the power tends to be rather explosive whenever I try to use it. In a sense, I was about to explode when Marissa was insulting my parents like that. But I couldn't let the power loose because it would hurt everyone around me. Not just Marissa but everyone surrounding us. I couldn't let that happen."

"If Lord and Lady Badica finds out that Marissa had unknowingly insulted the famed Ivashkov couple, they just might kill her themselves." Drew whistled. "If and when this secret gets exposed, a lot of crazy things are going to happen as a result of things that have happened since you've been back."

"Tell me about it. That's why I want to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. It is a fact that the secret will become exposed at some point, almost definitely before our graduation, but I can still try to prolong my freedom."

"It's weird but things are going to be more chaotic now than if you had revealed yourself when you returned. You've done so much, developed such a reputation for yourself, it's going to turn the royal circles upside down."

"I still don't regret keeping it a secret though. I want to build trusting relationships with people despite the fact that I'm hiding such a massive fact about myself. But I want people to know who I really am first before they find out that I'm also the girl who ran away six years ago."

"No matter what happens, we'll have your back, Valentine." Drew told me sincerely. "Sure, the other three guys might be shocked and they will undoubtedly make a lot of jokes and comments about it but they will also understand and respect you as the person you have been so far. As for the girls, I don't know them well enough to be able to speak on their behalf but I reckon that they will see you as the you now rather than just a royal princess."

"I really do hate that name… I'm not a princess since I'm not a Moroi."

"And yet you are because you are the last of your line."

"I am so not looking forward to the day when the other royal families find out that I'm still alive and kicking." I grumbled.

"They're probably going to freak out." Drew chuckled at the idea of it. "It would be interesting to see their conniving and fake composed faces drop."

"That will definitely be a sight to see. I hope I'll have my phone or a camera with me when that happens. I fully intend to record that moment."

"You won't be the only one."

Drew stood up and inspected our clothes which he'd hung near the fire to dry them. A satisfied gleam flickered across his eyes and he passed me my clothes. "They're not completely dry but they're warm and wearable."

"That's good. We should head back before my family decides to think of worst case scenarios." I sighed. "Just to warn you though, Ali might freak out big time about this since he's so protective and isn't quite as mature and collected as the others."

"Did he freak out when Jenson found out?"

"Just be prepared for anything, that's all I'm saying."


	57. Chapter 56

**_~x~ Chapter 56 ~x~_**

We turned away from each other so that we could get dressed. Once ready, we managed to get a few blankets together so that we could use them as shelter from the rain. Drew put the fire out and we readied ourselves before making a mad dash through the rain towards the main building for Martin's office.

Luckily, we didn't bump into anyone along the way since we would've no doubt attracted a few odd stares and questions. When we burst into the office and shut the doors behind us carefully, we found Ali pacing frantically around the room and the others were all seated with heavy frowns marking their faces.

Hearing us crash in, they all looked up and Ali stopped pacing. When our eyes met, he rushed towards me and pulled me into a tight hug. "Are you okay?" he murmured into my hair, holding me away from Drew.

"Yeah, I'm good, Alster. We're all good since Ozera's going to be a nice guy." I reassured him.

Peeking over Ali's shoulder, I could see everyone stare at Drew expectantly. Rosette had understanding and some strange gleam of anticipation in her eyes. Crispin and Maria seemed to have the same kind of look on their faces. Martin, Joey and Aunty Jules shared the same look too. They were astonished but understood the situation. They knew why Drew was going to keep quiet because being a royal himself, he knew of the pressure. But since they also knew how he held the Ivashkov Princess in such high regard, they were also surprised that he wasn't making more of a deal out of this.

As for Ali… well since I couldn't see his face, I had no idea. His heart was racing and his arms tightened around me until I felt like I was going to suffocate from lack of oxygen.

"Um… Ali… you've got to loosen up a bit. I can't breathe." I choked out, giving his back a light thump with my fist.

His hold loosened a little but he didn't let me go. I was shocked when he suddenly lowered his hands to my waist and lifted me up. He threw me onto his shoulder and I stared at the others with a dumbfounded expression as he carried me off.

Rosette shot me an anxious but understanding glance while Joey and Crispin just smirked at me. Clearly those three knew what was going on in Ali's head but didn't have a chance to explain since Ali ran off with me on his shoulder. It was a good thing that it was a Sunday and most people staying in the dorms or the other common hang out areas scattered around the campus. I certainly didn't need any strange rumours flying around about me and Ali.

He didn't stop until we reached my old house and when we got into the living room, I saw that the film we were watching was still on pause. I felt little bad that Drew was left on his own back there against my family members but knew that he could handle himself just fine. He was a royal after all and my family was certainly going to be mindful of that. They were probably still going to warn him and threaten him but not to the same extent as Crispin perhaps.

"Um… Ali? Are you okay?" I asked hesitantly, unable to read his clouded expression at all which kind of made me feel even more nervous.

"I don't like it," he told me eventually after keeping quiet for what felt like forever.

"Like what?"

"Prince Ozera knowing."

"About me?"

"I don't like it. This feels different to when Jenson found out. It's a lot heavier and thicker. I feel like I'm drowning in something and can't get out, Kalster," he told me honestly, his eyes dark with an emotion I couldn't name.

Concern welled within me and I grabbed him for a hug. "Oh Ali… I wish you didn't feel this way." I murmured against his shoulder. "Try to explain it. If I get a better idea of what you're feeling, maybe we can change it."

"I don't know. It's something like a mixture of anger, confusion and something else," he grumbled, his arms curling around my waist, his face buried into the crook of my neck.

"Anger, confusion and something else? That's not really helping much." I joked, trying to lighten the situation.

"Throw in a whole load of frustration and there you have what I'm feeling."

"What are you frustrated about?"

"Not understanding what the other emotions are."

I thought about it for a minute before I burst out laughing.

He pulled away so that he could look at me with an incredulous and irritated expression. "If you're going to laugh at me, maybe I shouldn't have explained anything."

"Don't you dare." I warned him between laughs. "I hate it when you bundle your emotions and don't explain them to me. It makes me feel confused and lonely."

"Then explain why you laughed."

"You sounded so much like me, that's all."

"What'd you mean?"

"Feeling something but you don't understand what that feeling is. I still get that all the time and it drives me nuts! I think I know the frustration part that you're feeling right now."

"You're a kid, you still have years ahead of you to try and figure things out," he scoffed.

I smacked his shoulder and rolled my eyes at him. "You're not _that_ much older than me, Alster."

"I'm older enough that I should know."

"You forget, most guys generally have the emotional understanding of a girl almost half their age. So technically, you should have the emotional understanding of someone even younger than me which means that I am more knowledgeable of emotions than you are."

"That's nonsense and you know it."

"Is it? It is true that until a certain age, guys are more foolish about emotions than girls are."

"So what? Are you implying that we have a similar understanding of emotions right now?"

I smirked and gave a nod. "That sounds about right. Can you deny it?"

Ali watched me for several moments before giving a sigh, running a hand through his hair with a troubled but defeated expression. "You're not wrong," he admitted reluctantly. "We do tend to get rather confused when it comes to each other, don't we?"

"I have yet to work out whether that's a good or a bad thing."

"Same here. So what do you suggest we do?"

"Work through it of course. I don't want us to become distanced, Ali. Not ever again. Although it was my reckless decision to run away, I don't ever want to be separated from you again. It'd probably kill me."

"It would kill me too." Ali told me with a low and intense tone that sent shivers raking through me. It was a tone of voice that I'd been catching glimpses of. It was something that I never would've thought would be directed at me, and yet there it was. Even after a week and a half, I still didn't know what to think of that.

What _should_ I think of that?

I was startled when he leaned forwards and rested his forehead against mine. Our eyes met and our noses touched. I gave him a soft smile and leaned up to kiss his nose. "Since we're here, why don't we finish off the movie and maybe a couple more? I'll send Martin and Joey a text to say where we are."

Surprise flickered across his eyes at my suggestion. "You don't want to discuss with the others about what you found upstairs?"

"That's too heavy for me right now. As much as I want to get to the bottom of it, we all know as much each other as to what might have happened. I think I've had enough headaches for today with finding that empty vault and Ozera finding out about me."

"It's good to know that you're still a child at heart, running away from heavy situations."

"I'm not running away." I protested. "Just… delaying it. I mean, even if I talk about it with them, it's not really going to get anywhere. I've already told Joey and Martin everything I know about the vault. Besides, as 'Kylie Valentine' I can't go investigating as to who has been hanging around the house, can I?"

"So you're being a little general and letting others do the investigative work?"

"That's right!" I declared.

Ali's phone rang and he took it out of his pocket to read the message. Curiosity rose when a grimace settled on his face and he shoved the phone back into his pocket.

"Am I allowed to be nosy and ask what that message said?"

"I've been ordered to stay away so that I don't behave recklessly around the prince. They also told me to keep you away to make sure you're really okay while they deal with Prince Ozera."

"I really am okay." I reassured him with an honest smile. "Thanks to being a royal, he really does understand how I feel about other people knowing about my blood heritage as a royal."

"It doesn't bother you that he knows?"

"At the moment, I'm trying not to think too much of it. If I do, my mind just might explode. So long as neither of us change the way we behave around each other in any noticeable way, I don't really mind too much."

"Kalster, how do you really feel about him knowing? He was one of the people you didn't want finding out the most, right?"

I glanced at him anxiously for a moment before giving a heavy sigh. "Well… to be honest, I guess that I'm feeling a little bit relieved. He's taken it well so now I don't have to panic over what his reaction could be since it's already happened. Somehow, things have worked out nicely."

"So it seems. Let's get started on those movies," he suggested, gently nudging me to take a seat on the sofa. "I'm kidnapping you this Sunday since we've haven't had a chance to spend a whole day together like we used to."

"It's hardly kidnapping if it's consensual." I scoffed, throwing a pillow at him. "Stop making yourself sound like such a villainous badass."

Ali shot me a defensive look. "Okay, so maybe I'm not a criminal. But I'm still a badass."

"You'll always be a badass in my memory, Alster. All those memories of causing havoc around the school has deemed you a badass forever in my mind."

Up until curfew, I stayed with Ali at the house, watching movies one after the other. Joe and Martin texted us just to check in and to make sure that we were alright.

Somehow, I managed to make it back to the dorms by curfew and once again Joe was there to congratulate me on my success of getting back on time. He also told me that the next day, rather than having my extra training session with him and Crispin, we were all having a meeting in Martin's office instead. Since I had a pretty good idea regarding what the topic of the meeting would be, I wasn't worried.

That night, I fell asleep feeling lighter than usual. Maybe it was because I wasn't worrying about Drew's reaction anymore. The dream that I had however was cryptic, mysterious and it almost drove me nuts. It was a memory of when my parents showed me the vault. There were indeed meant to be two letters. They had also told me that one of those letters was crucial for me to read should anything happen to them before my 16th birthday.

I woke up with a start, feeling startled and unnerved. Goosebumps scattered across my skin and I took a shuddery breath. What was I meant to do now? Since the letter was nothing more than a pile of ashes, I couldn't read it anymore.

I ran a hand through my hair and let out a deep breath to calm myself from the building frustration.

Throughout the whole morning, I still felt like I was in a daze and couldn't focus properly on anything whether it was lessons or my friends. During our training lesson before lunch, I was surprised when Crispin suddenly dragged me off again.

"Sorry about this, Val, but we need your help covering a senior training session again." Crispin told me with a hardly apologetic smile. His grin didn't reflect his words at all.

"Again? But I thought another guardian was assigned already."

"They're not feeling well so I've been asked to fill in while Black takes my place with your class."

"Are you sure it's really okay for me to do this again?"

"Belikov gave the okay. If she says yes then it's fine. Are you okay though? You look a little out of it, Val."

I looked up at him in surprise for a few moments before giving a defeated sigh. "I want to lie and deny it but you won't fall for it, will you?"

"No. Do you want to talk about it?"

"How much did you hear about what happened yesterday besides Ozera finding out my secret?"

"Someone has broken into your house and destroyed something important is what I was told."

"I had a dream about what was meant to be in that vault without knowing what the contents of the letters should be." I let out an unsteady breath. "It's something crucial, Crispin. They said that it was imperative that I read it if something happened to them before I turned 16."

"They never hinted to you what its contents could be?"

"Not at all and it's been bothering me since I woke up. I keep trying to think back to see if they had left any hints at all but have come up with absolutely nothing."

"Don't try to work through this all by yourself, Val," he warned. "You have you amazing family with you. Don't forget to talk to them about it. Voice your thoughts no matter how silly you may think they are."

I gave him a wide beaming smile and patted his shoulder. "I really can see why they've taken such a liking to you, Crispin."

"Oh really? Well, do I have your approval to join your family?"

"You've had it since I decided to trust you. To be perfectly honest with you, I reckon you've had my approval since day one."

"Since day one? I didn't think I made that kind of impression."

"It was in the way you interacted with Joey. You just seemed to fit so well into our family unit and with everything that's happened, it's helped prove that we made the right choice in trusting you."

"And I suppose things are only going to get more complicated from here for all of us."

"This isn't even the tip of the iceberg. I hope you'll be prepared for hell breaking loose. I know I'm not."

"Whatever happens, I hope for you sake that everything will turn out fine in the end." Crispin told me earnestly.

We stopped discussing the matter when we reached the senior training grounds. After a few warm-up exercises, I was surprised when Tom asked me to be his sparring partner.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, Valentine, but just how far out of line did he get?"

It didn't take a genius to work out who Tom was referring to.

"When you warned me back then, how far did you think he would go?" I fired back with a question of my own.

"Over lunch, I want to tell you a little story if you'd care to hear it."

"If you tell me the story, I'll tell you mine."

"Done deal. But at least tell me one thing, did he hurt you?"

"Hardly. The headmaster caught us before it could get that far."

"You're a good fighter, Valentine. Anyone can see that. But to go up against Eric you'll have to be much more than just a good fighter."

"You're being pretty cryptic, Tom."

"I can't tell you in any other way."

"You don't seem like the type to be friends with Eric. So why are you friends with him?"

I was startled by the suddenly protective gleam in his eyes. His jaw tightened and the punch he sent whirling my way was stronger than the others as he lost the control over his own strength. The gears in my mind began whirling and I realised why.

"You're not friends with him for friendship, are you? You're friends with him to keep an eye on him in order to protect Ingrid."

"You're as smart as everyone gives you credit for."

"Thanks… I think?"

"That was a compliment."

"You're quite cunning. Keeping your enemy close to observe them."

"If it protects my sister, I'll do anything."

"I don't suppose you'll ever let Ingrid hear you say that."

"I still have my pride to uphold."

"You're a good brother, Tom. Ingrid is a luck sister."

"Just don't tell her I said anything."

"Don't worry, your concern for her is safe with me. She won't hear a thing from me."

"Thanks. You're really difficult to attack," he groaned in frustration.

"I've been training for a long time." I told him simply as I easily dodged another attack.

The rest of training whirled by with Tom unable to land a single hit. As we sparred, we picked a lighter topic to converse about. When the class was over, I asked Crispin to let my friends know that I would be spending lunch with Tom today. He reminded me about the meeting in Martin's office with a hushed voice and I merely grumbled in response. I followed Tom to the clearing in the woods where I had played Ghost last week.

Once I was comfortable, making a seat out of the monkey bars, I decided to take the first plunge. "Should I start my story first or listen first?"

"I'll start." Tom told me with a heavy tone. "You need to know what he won't hesitate to do if he wanted it enough."

"Then, the stage is yours."

He took a deep breath and turned away from me to glance up at the sky as the memory surged through his mind. "Three years ago when we were 14, Eric became the newest renowned ladies' man within the school. Somehow, every female suddenly began really interested in him and he took full advantage of that. One day, he finally experimented on taking blood for pleasure and found the experience exhilarating. But then, the next day, the upper class man – a Moroi no less – remembered nothing of what had happened to her."

"What did he do?"

"He went to bed with a senior and made a meal of her without her consent. Eric felt some kind of a rush from being 'superior' – as he called it – and couldn't wait to try again. Within half a year, nearly half of the senior year girls woke up not remembering anything that had happened the night before. Not to mention, they had bite marks and so a terrible rumour spread saying that they were a band of voluntary blood whores."

"Did the teachers get involved?"

"These girls ended up in counselling and the counsellor reported to Headmaster Hunt about the common thing between them. They were all missing that one night from their memories."

"And what did he do?"

"Tightened up security and patrols as well as curfew regulations. I realised pretty soon who the culprit was and confronted him about it."

"How did you work it out?"

"It was in the way he looked at those girls sometimes, the weird gleam of victory and superiority in his eyes was a dead giveaway."

"What happened after the confrontation?"

"Absolutely nothing. Since I had no evidence, there was nothing that could be done. Eric already had a popular reputation so anything I said would've fallen on deaf ears. He toned it down considerably and the next year, we were assigned to be roommates, apparently at his request."

"He wanted to be your roommate?"

"Probably to ensure that I didn't say anything," he sighed. "I'm not match for him, Valentine, so instead I chose to stay quiet to protect Ingrid."

"I get the feeling that that's not the worst of it…"

A grim smile spread across his face and disgust shone in his eyes.

"Last year, a younger girl from your year rejected Eric's charm. She didn't care for him and she became his conquest. He wanted her to bow to him as a slave would to a master. He played out the perfect game and she became ensnared by him. He tore her self-worth and self-assurance to shreds. He took and took from her every day until she needed him desperately for the high he provided. When her desperation reached a high point to his satisfaction, he dropped her. He humiliated her every time she approached him in public. He was abusing her through humiliation, Valentine."

"What did he do?" I whispered, anger rising like the tide.

"He would subtly treat her in a degrading way. For anyone who really had eyes, they could tell that he wasn't treating her like a person should be treated. He treated her like she was an object, an object for him to use as he pleased."

"How did no one sense anything was wrong?" I hissed through gritted teeth.

"Ozera did. He saw through Eric for what he really was. He wasn't fooled by his charming façade. Ozera kept Arabelle from Eric. Ozera managed to lessen her desperate desire for him." Tom explained. "Unfortunately, Arabelle's friends got drunk off of her supposed fortune and luck for dating Eric."

"Some friends they are for not spotting the abuse! What happened to them? I doubt Eric would've welcomed Ozera stepping in like that."

"I don't know the exact details but Arabelle left under Ozera's advice and Eric and him have had a discreet tension between them ever since. No one really notices since they're not around each other that often."

"Wow… No wonder Ozera objected to Eric so much…" I murmured. "I nearly became another victim, huh? Fortunately for me, he didn't play the game well enough to a tune I'm comfortable with."

"He will try again when he gets back, Valentine."

"He will… won't he?"

"His pride won't let you get away."

"Damn pride makes so many things all the more complicated than needs be." I grumbled, ruffling my hair.

"Glad you understand it. You sound like you empathise with it."

"I do. I know how it feels. Sometimes my damn pride makes things far more difficult than necessary."

"You're a smart girl, Valentine," his voice suddenly growing heavy once more. "Why did you play along if you knew he was playing a game?"

"I thought the blood desire was normal here. I mean… its exactly like human boys aiming for sex. I didn't think it was something so unusual."

"You were at least aware, right? Of his bloodlust I mean."

"Yeah. I told him 'no' from day one."

"At least you didn't fall for his game, you weren't plagued by incredible innocence." Tom praised. "Most girls just don't even know what hit them since they're too enthralled by his attention."

"I count myself lucky. I'd hate that feeling of knowing something I really should." I grumbled. "But, what I don't understand is why they don't remember."

Tom gave me a sympathetic and patient glance. "Valentine, he's a Spirit user. Have you had a chance to study about them yet?"

I froze and stared blankly at him.

A Spirit user…

A string of curses spewed from my lips and anger directed at both myself and Eric flooded my senses.

For a brief moment, all I saw was red due to the level of fury.

How did I not think of it before? Everything made sense now… It would explain why I was basically powerless against him. Why I had such trouble trying to reject and refuse him. The sonuva jackass was using high level compulsion on me. If I saw that asshole again, I was going to kill him.

Painfully.

Slowly.

Excruciatingly.


	58. Chapter 57

**_~x~ Chapter 57 ~x~_**

"Valentine… are you alright?" he asked hesitantly.

"I've studied a little about them." I lied. I knew more than just a little. Hard not to know about them when Rosette was a Spirit user. "They can pretty much control everyone and anyone with a thing called compulsion, right?"

"All Moroi have compulsion but Spirit users have a special affinity with it amongst other things. You know Dr. Salvatore?"

"Yeah."

"She's a Spirit user and she heals people really well just as Lady Drozdov can. Apparently Dr. Salvatore is the best healer around."

"So… how many of these Spirit users are there? I mean, there doesn't seem to be that many around. Most Moroi in my year play around with elements."

"If we're talking about your year, I think O'Connor is a Spirit user. Who else do you know well?"

"Moroi? Just Ozera, Dan, Jacks, Quinn and O'Connor. I haven't had time to get to know others just yet."

"You will. It's only been two weeks after all so you have plenty of time. You already know about Dr. Salvatore and Lady Drozdov. Now you know about Eric."

"So I do. Can he do anything more with his Spirit?"

"Not really. He doesn't know how to heal no matter how many classes he's attended but he is unrivalled in terms of compulsion. No one can refuse him if he goes for it. It's actually kind of scary the things he can do."

"You mean how he just might try to take over the world?" I grumbled.

Tom looked startled and eyed me warily. The wariness wasn't directed towards me but rather to the situation. "Has he voiced anything like that to you?"

"When we broke up, he told me that with me by his side, he could take over court though I don't really get why things that way. Why would having me by his side make a difference?"

But now that I knew he was a Spirit user, it was possible that Eric knew who I really was. Could he have the ability to recognise and distinguish people in some way? It would explain why he said 'until you came along'. Was this why he said he didn't consider court domination seriously until I appeared? If he knew I was royal, it would explain the meaning behind some of his words.

"The court… He didn't mean the royal court, did he?"

"How did you know he was referring to the royal court specifically rather than the court in general?"

"I remember him joking about it once. Only, this was one of those jokes which weren't really jokes, merely disguised as one."

"Did you ever talk to anyone about your observations about Eric?"

"Who could I tell? What would I say? It's not as if he really has the power to do it."

"Don't underestimate people, Tom. It will get you killed. Eric could succeed if he had a royal girl with enough influence wrapped around him."

"Come to think of it. He definitely had Marissa controlled. It was kind of scary how… obsessed she was about him. That was another reason why she hated you."

"Because Eric was intrigued about me and she didn't like that, right?"

"Right. It will do her some good being away from his Academy and its people for a while. Give her a chance to start afresh."

"Considering the things she's said about my parents. I can't hope for her best from the bottom of my heart. To be honest, I'd love to bash her face in still. I reckon if I saw her again, I would happily punch her."

"If I was in your position, I would've done that already. I'm surprised you let her go without a scratch."

"I'd promised the headmaster I would behave. Unfortunately, I still ended up causing a lot of trouble."

"We're teenagers, that's kind of unavoidable." Tom chuckled. "By the way, thanks for inviting my sister last weekend to break out of here. You've showed her much more than you realise."

"Oh? What'd you mean? And no problem. Since they were interested in the outside world, it's only fair that I show them if I can."

"You proved to her that there really was a different life out there. Something more than just fighting to protect the Moroi which is all us two have ever known. Our parents pretty much drummed that into our system and didn't allow for anything else."

"That's the thing about this place. So many people don't know the alternative. Yes, it's an honour to protect the system, but you guys should at least have a choice."

"That's never going to happen. Far too many of us dhampirs would choose the alternative. We want to live, not spend our entire lives protecting someone we might barely know."

"I suppose, with the number of Strigoi out there, we do need to make sure enough people can fight them not only to protect the Moroi but also the humans. I mean, most humans would be pretty incompetent at fighting the Strigoi due to their lack of speed and strength in comparison to vampires."

"I think I've noticed this before, but you're not just good at fighting head on and recklessly, are you? You're actually quite the discreet and secret analyst, aren't you? You give off the impression that you have no plan when in fact more often than not, you do."

I grinned cheekily at him. "You've managed to ready my fighting approach impressively."

"The annoying thing about it is, even if I know you have a plan, I can't read your movements or the plan at all. Normally it's possible to guess the next move after studying the movements and patterns but with you it's impossible."

"If I'm not unpredictable enough, more people would be able to kick my ass." I scoffed.

Tom was about to respond to that when his watch sounded. Glancing down at it, he gave me a smile. "Thanks for the talk, Valentine. I really appreciate it. We should probably go otherwise we'll completely miss lunch."

"That would not be fun, missing lunch that is. Thanks for the insight on Eric's true nature, Tom. I hope I don't see him anytime soon."

"You shouldn't have to. In fact, he may not even graduate as a consequence of his actions."

"For a Moroi, that's not much of a problem at all, is it?"

"For a smart and manipulative one like him, no."

Tom and I headed towards the dining hall together and I found the table I was looking for easily since Ingrid had been waving so eagerly to catch my attention. I gave them a smile of greeting and went to get some food first before sitting at the table.

"So you got roped in for another senior lesson, huh? They're basically pushing you for an earlier exam, aren't they?" Jacks commented wryly.

"Somehow, I doubt that's Jenson's plan. I think he just didn't want to have to take the class alone." I scoffed.

"What's it like being an assistant instructor?" Els asked curiously.

"I'm not really instructing. It's pretty much normal training where you pair up and spar for the whole lesson after warm-up exercises."

"Did you pair up with Tom? He's a good fighter, isn't he?" Ingrid beamed proudly.

"Considering he's older than you four, he puts up more of a fight than you, which is kind of to be expected."

"By the way, what are you wearing on Wednesday?" Quinn asked.

I stared blankly at him in response, wondering what he'd meant. I tried to think why he'd ask about Wednesday specifically but came up with nothing. The four guys looked at my lost expression for a moment before they broke into laughter.

"Kai… Wednesday is the dinner with their families, remember?" Roxy reminded.

I blinked at her several times before grimacing. With everything that went on over the past couple of days, I'd completely forgotten about it. Judging by the glance Drew sneakily sent me, he knew exactly why I'd forgotten and he even went as far as to give me a reassuring smile as if to say that it was okay I forgot considering the circumstances.

If anything, his smile annoyed me. Since I had been panicking so much before, I couldn't believe that I actually forgot!

"Just a casual playsuit. Nothing fancy though it's not sloppy either since you guys emphasised the fact that it was casual. I've got some jewellery to style it up so that it won't look like I didn't bother making an effort." I explained.

"Considering you went on a shopping trip specifically for the dinner attire, I would say that that's effort enough." Quinn reassured me.

"Is Trace going to be there?" I asked, hopeful for the answer to be 'yes'.

"We haven't told you yet?" Jacks blinked in surprise.

"Our father was so ecstatic he almost broke our eardrums." Quinn shuddered at the memory.

"He's just happy that his family can be one again." Drew reasoned.

"You know, it's so weird. I really miss not seeing Trace even though it's only been two days." I admitted sheepishly.

"Trace has been asking why you haven't visited. I'd suggest going to see him this evening otherwise he might complain and find a way into the main school to look for you again." Jacks warned.

"It's not a possibility. It's a fact." Quinn chuckled. "He really will come over to look for you."

"I guess I had better go after my training with Maxwell and Jenson then." I laughed.

"He'd really like that, Kai," the twins chimed, smiles spread across their faces.

Lunch whipped by in a flash. When we finished eating, I headed off towards Martin's office for the discussion regarding the break-in to my home. By the time I got there, everyone had already arrived and they were seated comfortably around the coffee table.

All heads turned to face me when I entered and I gave them a reassuring smile to let them know that I was okay.

"You look well, Kalani." Rosette commented as she scrutinised me. "Much lighter than before."

Laughing, I couldn't resist the urge to pull her up from where she sat to give her a tight hug. "Thanks, I feel it too."

"Kel, after summer vacation, I'm going to schedule you to join in with the seniors during training once a week." Aunty Jules told me bluntly and I turned to face her in shock.

"Did I just hear you right?" I gaped in disbelief.

I just stared at her for several moments as she gave me a smile that answered my question. She was. She was completely serious and I knew that she would do it too and there was nothing I could do about it. The pride that gleamed in her eyes warmed my heart and it lessened the frustration at my lack of choice in this decision.

"But really now? Every week? Don't you think I'll have more than enough to worry and stress out about?"

"How about once a fortnight?" Aunty Jules bartered. "If I don't do this, Jill is never going to get off my back or Martin's."

"As in Lady Drozdov? What does she have to do with this?"

"She's been pushing for you to be put into more intensive training ever since you got back from your breakout." Martin explained.

"What would be more productive than bumping her up a couple of years would be to get her to skip out on her training once a week and teach some of the juniors a thing or two. They could do with someone whipping them into shape and who better than someone they gossip about and admire?" Joey scoffed.

"Guys, no." I protested with a defensive squeal. "I have enough on my plate as it is already. I'm going to have no social life if you do that!"

The only one who wasn't affected by my outburst was Crispin.

But the others. They all stared at me first with shock before proud smiles spread across their faces.

"What?" I scowled, feeling self-conscious from their constant staring.

"Our little Kalani… worrying about having time to socialise!" Joey cheered, throwing his arms up in joy and delight.

"Seriously?" I drawled. "I mean come on, it's been two weeks and you're still teasing me about my lack of socialising back then?"

"Not teasing." Maria appeased. "But we are still trying to get used to the change. You have never been this proactive in getting to know people before."

"I didn't used to think that there were people worth knowing." I retorted cheekily. "No one was more important to get to know than you guys and I had one hell of an entertaining childhood with Ali by my side."

"Thanks, Kalster." Ali cheered in agreement.

"But seriously though, I don't want to have any more commitments on my plate!"

"It's technically no more than what you already have." Aunty Jules reasoned. "The senior training will take the place of one of your scheduled sessions."

"And the junior training will take the place of one of your extra training sessions. How about on a Wednesday?" Joe added.

"It's not really taking up more of your time." Martin agreed. "It would be very helpful if you helped get the juniors to face training with the right kind of attitude. In fact, I have considered asking Chance, Prince Ozera, Prince Zeklos and the two Dragomir Princes to do the same."

"You're trying to get all of us to do more training?" I gaped. "Best of luck with that."

"Crispin tells us that something has been bothering you today." Maria cut in with a sterner tone.

I met all of their expectant gazes and gave a nervous laugh. "Um… yeah… sort of."

"Has something happened?" Ali asked worriedly, dragging me over to sit beside him on one of the sofas.

"I had a dream last night." I explained to them. "I saw the memory of when Mum and Dad showed me the vault."

"Did they tell you what the letters were?" Rosette asked.

"No." I grumbled, running a hand through my hair. "All they said was, it was really important that I read them if something happened to them before my sixteenth birthday. They gave me absolutely no clues as to what those letters could be about."

"How old were you when they showed you the vault?" Martin inquired.

"About ten. If I remember rightly, it was a couple of weeks before the attack. They seemed awfully urgent about it. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that they might have anticipated that something bad was going to happen."

"You think they were aware of the attack?" Aunty Jules demanded sharply.

"No. That's different." I protested. "I just said that they might have known that something bad would happen. It doesn't necessarily mean that they knew about the attack."

"Val, I'm not going to lie but there is a very fine line between the two. Something bad happening while they are at the Academy would most likely insinuate an attack." Crispin commented with a frown.

"Well… I don't know. I don't know what they could sense happening. All I know is that they were gearing up for something big."

"And you're confident about that memory?" Martin asked me sternly.

"Completely. I remember them being a little more on edge than usual. I wouldn't mistake something like that. Not when it's my parents."

"Kai… that just confirms that what happened six years ago couldn't possibly have been a freak attack." Joe spoke slowly to make sure that I understood the severity of my statement.

"It was a freak attack. It just wasn't an unorganised one." I corrected. "Whoever was behind it, my parents knew them. Otherwise, there's no way that they could've possibly known about the danger."

"Kalani," Rosette called to me with a warning tone. "You have to promise us that you won't be reckless."

"You're going to have to be more specific than that, Rosette."

"You have to promise us that you won't go looking for the people behind the attack six years ago."

I froze and stared at her in disbelief. When I saw that she and everyone else were dead serious, I narrowed my eyes and stiffened my posture defensively. "I'm not making that promise." I stated.

"Kai!" Maria chastised. "We want to protect you and your wish to remain a secret but we cannot do that if you go around endangering yourself."

"I won't put myself in danger but I'm not backing down on this."

"If you try to investigate, you will definitely alert whoever was behind the attack."

"Those bastards killed my parents. There is no way I'm just going to let this go."

"You've put yourself in enough danger this past week with Eric Cooper. Don't push your luck, Kai." Aunty Jules warned.

I couldn't restrain the anger that bubbled and I shot up from my seat to pace the room in frustration. "Alright then, let's talk about Eric Cooper. He was a Spirit user with the most spectacular control over compulsion. Why wasn't he under strict surveillance?"

"What are you talking about, Kai?" Martin crossed his arms warily, his eyes narrowed with confusion.

"I'm talking about his compulsion and all those girls he's hurt and ruined way before I came back." I informed them flatly. "You guys must have known about all those Moroi girls being bitten. If you didn't know about all of them, you must have been aware of some. At least half the girls in the same year group lost their memory of a single night – the very same night Eric Cooper took them to bed and fed off of them!"

"Val," Crispin reached out to stop my pacing. "How did you know about those girls?"

"There are some people who aren't brainwashed by his popularity." I stated. "Surely _someone_ suspected him when that was going on."

"We had placed watchers around all the Spirit Users for two whole months to monitor them, Kai." Martin informed me. "But we could find no evidence against any of them. What makes you think that Cooper was the cause of all those cases?"

"For one thing, he was drawn by bloodlust. Now that I'm thinking with a clear head, I know that his desire for blood is a lot stronger than the average Moroi's." I told them. "That and the fact that I know people who know what happened."

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Ali demanded in disbelief. "Did you know that you were in danger since the beginning?"

"Of course not!" I protested. "I might be a little reckless but I'm not an idiot. If I knew that he would be _that_ dangerous I wouldn't have gone anywhere near him!"

"When did you start becoming aware?" he asked warily.

"He didn't give me a chance to be aware. Not properly at least. Every time I had my doubts, he chased it away with his compulsion. Just to say, I am only realising this now that his hold is gone and I've thought about it more carefully."

"Who are the people who told you about him? I thought that the entire student population were blinded by his charisma." Aunty Jules questioned.

"Ozera was one of them."

"And?"

"And my lips are sealed."

"Kai!" Joe reprimanded.

"I don't know if they want to be revealed. I'm not saying anything more."

"Why didn't you tell us about your doubts?"

"I told you. Eric's compulsion is more powerful than anything I'd encountered before. I never had the chance to tell you." I grumbled in frustration. "You have him under house arrest, right?"

"He hasn't done anything to suggest a break out." Martin reassured me.

"Is there something that we can do to fight the compulsion or something? Even if Eric did break out, the guardian in charge of him might not know a thing."

"We have already considered that. The guardian is wearing a specially designed accessory which repels compulsion no matter how strong it is."

"So there really is no way for him to break out without people knowing about it?"

"That's right." Aunty Jules reiterated.

"Kalani, we still want you to promise not to be reckless."

"I can promise not to be reckless." I scoffed. "But I'm not promising not to get involved in finding out what happened back then. I know how to investigate discreetly without people questioning a thing."

"We're not comfortable with this." Joe glared at me.

"I won't put myself in danger." I reassured them. "I'll be really careful."

"How do you know who the right people to talk to are?"

"I just do. Also, I know it hasn't been very long but do we have any idea who might have been poking around the old house without permission?"

"Not that we know of just yet but we haven't started a proper investigation." Martin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Did my parents have any enemies who would be reckless enough to target the last surviving members of a royal family?"

"We won't lie and tell you they didn't have enemies. But enemies who are reckless enough to orchestrate an attack with Strigoi? That's going to need more consideration." Maria told me.

I rolled my eyes and slumped into a seat. "That's basically your way of telling me that you know a few leads but have no plans on telling me about them."

"We would really prefer you not to do anything, Kai." Joe told me honestly. "At least for now."

I stayed silent for several moments before giving them a nod. "Alright, fine. But I think that our best lead is to find out who broke into the house. Whoever it was is going to lead us to whoever was behind the attack six years ago."

"You think that there's a connection." Ali stated rather than asked.

"I don't really believe in coincidences. It would be too far-fetched if the two cases weren't linked in some way."

"What makes you say that?"

I hesitated for a few moments to think carefully about the words I should use. "What happened six years ago… I know that my parents weren't the only ones killed in that event but nothing should have happened to them. There shouldn't have been so many Strigoi attacking that one place without other guardians coming to our aid until it was already too late."

"You think that the attack on the academy was aimed at your parents?"

"I know it's presumptuous of me to think that and it's a probably a biased view but yeah."

"It makes sense." Ali agreed. "There were far too many Strigoi gathering around the area of the house. We already agreed on that but we didn't want to say that the Strigoi were explicitly after the Ivashkov family."

"There hasn't been an organised attack on the royal families for decades. Why now?" Crispin questioned.

"This might not be a simple attack on the royal families." I reasoned. "I mean… there haven't been that many other attacks on the royal families for the past six years, right?"

"There have been a few but none of them were nearly as organised as the attack on the academy."

"Do you mean the attacks on the Ozera family and the Dragomir family?" I asked.

"You know about those?"

"I know about Trace's mother dying because of a Strigoi attack. I also know that Ozera has been through fights with Strigoi before. But none of those were grand scale attacks, right?"

"There have been no suspicions that they were grand scale attacks. The only reported one for the past couple of decades has only been the one here." Crispin informed.

"So… there is a slim chance that the attack could very well have been aimed at my parents?" I whispered, covering my face with my hands.

There were so many thoughts running through my mind. Was the attack not as random as it had been put down to be? What if it hadn't been? What if it was a planned attack and someone desperately wanted to get rid of my parents? If that was true then why? Why were my parents such a threat to whoever was behind this? Just what the heck was going on?

The very fact that my tight family unit wasn't the only ones who thought that the attack from six years ago wasn't as random as people thought scared me. If other people speculated that the attack might have been planned, it made the idea of it all the more feasible. Remembering my conversation with Drew yesterday, I decided not to tell the others just yet. I didn't know just how certain Drew was about the whole thing and there was no way the others could discuss such a thing with the Ozera family without exposing the fact that the Ivashkov princess was back.

No… it would definitely be better to find out more about what Drew's parents thought about the attack from six years ago first before telling the others about it. I knew that I would get a heavy lecture for keeping it a secret from them later. But it was better than stressing them out with a lead that they couldn't possibly follow without exposing my return.

Sensing and seeing my distress, Ali wrapped an arm around my protectively as if to shield away all the bad things in the world. My forehead rested against his chest and I took several deep breaths to calm myself.

Just take it steadily. Rushing would get me nowhere except landing myself in serious danger and I promised not to get into dangerous situations. I could at least uphold that one promise for a while until something else got out of hand.

After another half an hour of heavy discussions, I excused myself so that I could find sanctuary at the Elementary Division. I couldn't wait to get away from that heavy atmosphere. As much as I wanted to solve this speculation and find some answers, just talking about it was getting us nowhere and it was giving me one heck of a bad headache. Ali asked me to wait for him in the courtyard just outside of the main building and so I did.

Crossing my arms, I leaned against the statue at the centre of the courtyard to reorganise my thoughts. Steadily, my nerves calmed and the headache went away.

"What happened to your extra training?" a curious voice called out, drawing me out of my thoughts.


	59. Chapter 58

**_~x~ Chapter 58 ~x~_**

Turning, I saw Drew heading towards me with curiosity gleaming in his eyes.

"Training was cancelled to begin with." I told him honestly, relieved that I didn't have to lie to him since he knew the truth.

"You look stressed. Did something else happen?"

"No. I've just been through a really heavy discussion, that's all." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I've been meaning to ask, but why didn't you ever let the guardians know about what Eric was doing to those girls?"

"Nothing short of expulsion would have stopped him." Drew explained. "And they definitely didn't have enough evidence to expel him. The girls weren't able to remember what they had been through. It wouldn't have been fair to remind them of the humiliation they might have suffered the night they were with him."

"But you could've at least tipped the guardians off to get them to increase the surveillance around him, right?"

"By the time I knew about it, the guardians were already keeping watch of all the Spirit users. Cooper's the type to get more dangerous and confrontational when people know about what he's doing."

I thought about it for a moment and knew that he was right. If the guardians suspected him more than the other spirit users, Eric probably would've taunted them using any dirty scheme he could think of without actually giving himself away. It would've been a nasty game.

"It must've been a tough choice but I think you made the right one." I murmured, glancing up at the sky.

"You don't suit the stressed out look much. You just look like you want to either find some random cabin in the middle of the woods and stay there the rest of your life as a hermit or destroy the entire world."

I turned to look at him in shock. "What?"

"You do," he told me bluntly with amusement swimming in his eyes. "So what was the heavy discussion that's got you so stressed?"

"As if I'm just going to tell you that easily."

"And why not? You don't have to hide a secret anymore, right? You never know, I might be able to help with whatever the problem is." Drew argued with a serious gleam in his eyes.

Now that I thought about it, I knew that he was right and I hated to admit it. Now that he knew who I really was, I didn't have to be so cautious around him anymore. In a way, it brought a light feeling to my mind and chest. In another, it made the situation a whole lot more dangerous for some reason and I didn't know why I felt that way. Was being open to Drew such a bad and risky thing?

"You know I'm right," he commented when he observed my expression. "Unless there's another grand secret you're hiding."

"If there is, I don't know it." I scoffed, rolling my eyes at his joke.

"What's got you so tense and concerned, Kalani?" he whispered so that no one else could hear. Not that there was anyone passing by but I appreciated his caution and thoughtfulness.

"It's about the attack from six years ago." I sighed, telling him half of the truth eventually.

"I can understand why it might make you upset but tense and concerned? That I don't understand."

"The genius Andrew-Blake Ozera doesn't understand something?" I teased, feigning a gasp.

"There are a lot of things that I don't understand," he retorted with a scoff. "I am going to name you the Queen of Evasion soon."

"Hey, I'm not that bad." I grumbled, smacking him playfully on the shoulder. "The reason why it got me tense is because they suspect that there was foul-play involved too. It wasn't just a simple attack, Ozera. Not like the one during Lissa Dragomir and Rose Hathaway's time where the ward just failed."

"It was something that was well-planned."

"That's the conclusion that we all came to. The toughest questions are: who was behind it and why. Why would someone risk so much as aligning themselves with Strigoi and attacking one of the main Academies, especially during a time when there were so many royals present here?"

"Whoever planned it can't have been aiming for a simple attack on the school. They must've been after something." Drew agreed.

"What would be so important that they'd take such a dangerous risk?"

He hesitated as he stared at me. The answer was in his eyes and a part of me could read what he was about to say. Hesitantly he voiced his thoughts. "The destruction of the Ivashkov family. Whoever planned it can't have anticipated your survival."

"Thus it gives me all the more reason not to let my identity be discovered. When I disappeared, he or she must've let their guard down thinking that I was dead. But if they find out I'm still alive, there's no telling what would happen."

"We can't risk having another attack on the school. It would cause far too much panic across the world. They'll think that no academy is safe anymore."

"So it's down to finding out who was behind the attack before they find out I'm still here." I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"I hope you enjoy detective work, Valentine, because it seems like you're going to need to do a lot of it. We'll all try to help you out but there's only so much we can do as students."

"I've never tried being a detective before but I generally just follow my instincts to be honest. I seem to have a pretty good sense of when something's wrong. If something doesn't feel right, I'll know."

"Do you have a starting place?"

"Absolutely none at all…" I groaned. "I was thinking of letting my family work it out first. I mean, they have all the clues so far and it's been far too long for us to try and dig up physical evidence now."

"It's only been what? Two weeks? Almost three? How have you managed to get yourself in such a predicament?" Drew mused, slight amusement swimming in his beautiful eyes but they were mostly clouded with caution and anxiety due to the situation we seemed to be caught in.

"How should I know? I didn't ask for this you know. I'm so not cut out to be a detective."

"Maybe not, but you certainly do seem to be quite a little general."

"Little general?" I questioned, arching my brows at him.

"You have that air about you. Like mother like daughter, it appears," he chuckled.

"Nah, I'm more like my father. Little kids adore me." I boasted cheekily.

"Don't you go stealing my spot, little sky." Ali grumbled jokingly as he approached us.

I turned around just in time as his arm draped around my shoulders surprisingly protectively. I glanced up at him curiously, wondering why he did that. Surely Ali knew that Drew was no danger to me? If anything, I would deck him – royal prince or not – if he tried anything on me. Both Drew and I knew that for a fact.

"I'm not stealing your spot." I scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. However, I just might steal your spot in Trace's case. He's just too darn adorable."

"He's a little Dragomir prince, of course he's adorable."

"Heritage doesn't necessarily define looks, you know."

"True, but most royal families tend to look rather beautiful or handsome or both." Ali shrugged lightly.

"I can't remember enough of them to make a justified statement. Are you ready to head over to the Elementary Division?"

"The Elementary Division? Do you still have the detention?" Drew mused.

"No, but with all this tough thinking, I thought I'd find simplicity and sanctuary in little Trace."

"Try not to let your mind explode, Valentine." Drew chuckled as he brushed past me. "Do you think we'll see you at dinner or will you be staying there all night?"

"Nothing keeps me away from dinner. If I'm not at the dining hall then I'll probably be at the H.E. lab cooking up my own meal."

"It's so unfair that you get to use it whenever you want to. I'm getting bored of take-aways."

"Then learn how to cook properly, Ozera." I joked.

"These years of learning have not been kind to me."

"I'm sure some Spartan training might get you to a passable or at least decent level of cooking so that the food is at least edible."

"Are you offering?"

"I'm not a teacher. But I know someone who's got some serious Spartan training techniques."

"With cooking?"

"I'm not kidding."

"Who?"

"Maria."

Drew took a moment to think about it before realisation dawned in his eyes and he blinked at me in surprise. "As in Guardian Valiere? The really gentle and kind guardian who has the motherly vibe about her?"

I nodded with a grin, glad that he caught on so quickly. He would have to now that he knew my secret and there was no point in me addressing the others of my family in a formal way around him. "That's the one."

"I don't think she qualifies as a Spartan trainer, Valentine."

"Just wait until you see her true colours. As motherly as her vibe may seem, she's vicious if you get on the wrong side of her." I shuddered, remembering just how scary Maria could get if she really got angry.

"Considering Guardian Valiere is part of your family unit, I'm not sure if I want to know."

"You're not as reckless as I'd thought." I laughed, smacking him playfully on the shoulder. "I'll see you around, Ozera."

Ali and I headed off for the elementary division and Ali took me towards the small training ground where I had first reunited with him and where I first met Trace. We found a whole bunch of kids, including Trace, training in concentration as he tried to defend himself against the guardian they were sparring with.

Trace spotted me almost straight away and his face lit up in delight. "Kylie!" he squealed and sprinted towards me, ignoring Guardian Black.

"Trace!" I beamed, giggling as he launched into my arms. "You're in the middle of training, Trace. You shouldn't dash off from the nice guardian like that."

"Hey there, Valentine. Why don't you train with Trace? I'm sure he'd be happier that way." Guardian Black chuckled. "He's been pouting and sulking since you haven't been here."

"Aw, I've missed you too, Trace." I laughed and swung him around. "Trace, let's train until your lesson is over and then we can relax." I suggested, setting him back down onto his feet.

"Will you train with me?"

"Of course I will. But don't think I'll go easy on you. I'll have you be a little prodigy in no time."

Trace gave me a fearful look and I softened my expression. "It won't hurt. Too much. As the bizarrely wise saying goes: 'No pain, no gain.' It's true you know. Hardly anything worth gaining or achieving has a painless path."

"Spoken rather wisely, Valentine." Guardian Black commented. "I'll leave you two guys to it and check on the other kids. Sometimes, they start fighting pretty recklessly and seriously with each other if we don't keep an eye on them carefully enough."

"They're just little kids, do they really have so much power to seriously harm each other?"

"When a few of the kids in question are magic wielders, they can do surprising damage despite being so young and inexperienced. In a way, that's what makes it more dangerous."

"That just means that they're total naturals. With the right training, they could learn to use their powers correctly, more effectively, and for the right reasons"

"You know what would be fantastic, is if you came along and helped out with the little ones' training."

"Would that mean I get to see Kylie more often?" Trace piped up enthusiastically.

"That's right, Trace. You'll get to see her in the afternoons as well." Ali confirmed.

"Stop conspiring to rope me in!" I protested semi-seriously and semi-playfully. To be honest, as much as I was complaining about it, the idea of helping out with the elementary training did sound quite interesting to say the least. Not to mention, it would be pretty awesome to see Trace more often.

"Kylie, stay and spend more time with me." Trace pleaded with those adorable eyes of his and my heart just about melted at the sight of it. I crouched down and hugged him tightly, kissing the top of his head.

"How could I ever say no to you, Trace?" I mumbled. "I guess I might as well say goodbye to my free time, huh?"

"I guess it's all set them." Ali chuckled. "I'll inform Belikov. You'll probably be given a new timetable soon."

"Alright." I nodded in acknowledgement. "Now, Trace, let's get training! I'm going to whip all you kids into shape!"

"We're going to take you down, Kylie!" Trace declared with a proud and bubbly voice.

"Maybe in a few decades time, Trace." I teased as I stood back up.

For the next hour or so, I trained the elementary novices intensively but in moderation, taking into account how young and tiny they were. There was only so much they could take after all. It wouldn't be good or productive to push them further than their little bodies could actually handle.

My younger days' training came back to me as I remembered how Mum and Dad used to train me. Whilst both of them were pretty intense with the training, they never did push me too far. They would be able to spot when I was struggling too much or was suffering. They knew just when to pull back and relax a little with the training.

After training, Trace and I relaxed on one of the training benches and we chatted enthusiastically about the dinner with the royal families in a couple of night's time. He was just as excited as I was about it since he hadn't attended one before. He never had the courage to since he had still been under the impression that the twins really disliked him. Those were the days when he was still fearful of the two.

Before I knew it, time flew and it was dinner time. I bade Trace goodbye and promised to return the next day. The promise instantly brought a smile back to his face and he gave me a tight hug before eventually letting me go.

I found the others at our usual table in the dining hall and made a beeline for it after collecting my food. The next day or so whirled by and it was time to get ready for the dinner with the royals. Els, Roxy, and Ingrid crashed into my room just as I walked out of the shower in just a towel.

"Guys! Seriously, you've got to stop doing that!" I protested, slamming the main door of my room shut to make sure no one else saw me.

"Then remember to lock your door next time," they retorted at the same time.

"What are you guys doing here?" I wondered.

"Helping you get ready, of course!" Els stated bluntly like it was the most simple and obvious thing in the world.

"Please don't go crazy, Els. I want to look normal and presentable tonight. I don't want to look like I'm trying to suck up to them."

"Don't worry about it, we'll keep it totally natural." Ingrid reassured but I was still doubtful about it.

"Fine, but only if you guys don't go over the top." I warned them firmly. I was anxious enough about the dinner itself, I didn't want to have to think about the make-up as well. I grabbed my clothes, headed back into the bathroom and quickly got changed. When I stepped out, the three girls eyed me with approval and they gestured at the bed.

Warily, I sat down on my bed, crossed my legs, closed my eyes, and let the girls do their work. For three quarters of an hour, I sat anxiously, waiting for them to tell me it was over. I opened my eyes a couple of times but they smacked me and told me I had to keep them closed until the end to see the final result. Eventually, the three stepped away and I was allowed to look. I jumped off the bed and dashed straight for the mirror.

I stared at my curly hair, bronze shadowed eyes, red lips, slightly tinted cheeks and I spotted the new earrings in my lobes as well. The look was less natural than I had hoped for but I had to admit, the make-up and hair-do went incredibly well with my outfit. I turned around to see them staring at me in anticipation. Sighing, I gave them an approving smile and a nod causing them to cheer in delight and victory.

If I hadn't adjusted my stance at the last moment, the three of them would've tackled me to the floor. I wrapped my arms around them gratefully and kissed each of them on the cheek.

"Thank you. Now I feel like I'm prepared for any terrifying situation." I told them honestly.

"You're welcome, Kai. It's time to show them who St. Vlad's female prodigy is!" Roxy declared, pulling away to give me a light smack on the back.

"Sorry, but we took longer than we thought we'd need. The guys are waiting at the car for you." Ingrid apologised.

"Here is your jacket. Have a good night, Kai." Els told me, handing me the garment.

"I'll tell you guys all about it when I get back, alright?"

"We're counting on it," they chorused.

When they finally let me go, I made a dash for the dorm entrance and found the guys leaning against the van. Joe and Crispin were waiting there as well and I stared in disapproval at the cigarette between Joe's lips.

"Smoking is bad for you, Guardian Maxwell." I reprimanded as I approached them.

"It's a tough habit to break."

"If it wasn't, it wouldn't be known as an addiction." I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"Alright, people, let's go. We wouldn't want to be late, would we?" Crispin suggested.

"Kylie! You're really coming!" Trace squealed in delight.

"Of course, I wouldn't let you down, now would I?" I chuckled, leaning down to give him a hug.

"Be prepared for a feast, Kai." Dan warned me.

"Knowing our parents, they've probably over done it again," the twins sighed.

"If there is too much, we could always bring some food back like always." Drew shrugged.

"I'm looking forward to having a good meal." I smiled in delight.

We piled into the van, Trace instantly taking the seat beside mine, and we set off for wherever this dinner would be taking place.


End file.
